
mimm- 



^ 



/v 



'■ <^ ^ 



With the compliments of 

John D. Runkle. 



THE 



MANUAL ELEMENT IN EDUCATION. 



JOHN D. RUNKLE, Ph.D., LL.D., 

WALKER PBOI^KSSOB OP MATHEMATICS, rNSTITUTB OF TECHNOLOGY, 
BOSTON, MASS. 






9 



THE 



MANUAL ELEMENT IN EDUCATION. 



JOHN D. RUNKLE, Ph.D., LL.D., 

WALKER PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS, INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, 
BOSTON, MASS. 



KEPKINTED FROM THE FORTY-FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE 
MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF EDUCATION. 



MAR SI mi 



BOSTON: 
EantJ, 3li)crp, ^ Co., prittters to tj)e Comraontoeattl)' 

117 Franklin Street. 
1882. 



\ ^. 



^« 



THE MANUAL ELEMENT IN EDUCATION. 



The Forty-first Annual Keport of the Massachusetts Board 
of Education (1876-77) contains a paper with the above title ; 
and I gladly comply with the wish of the honorable Board that 
I should prepare a second paper upon the same subject, embody- 
ing such additional experience as may have been gained in our 
School of Mechanic Arts and other similar schools, together 
with any information I may have been able to gather since 
the date of the first paper. My chief aim in this paper will be 
to furnish such details as may be of service to corporations or 
individuals, as hints or aids in the establishment of this kind 
of education. 

It is hardly worth while in this connection to consider the 
way that this element is to find its place in our educational 
system. Individual opinion may for a time have some influence 
in directing the current of thought upon this subject ; but in 
the end the needs of the public will control. There is already a 
wide-felt impression, if not conviction, that something of the kind 
is necessary ; and this conviction is most likely to find expression 
at first in special mechanic art schools, in centres where the 
need is most felt. If these schools shall demonstrate their value, 
not only as training schools for fitting students to enter upon 
certain lines of industrial activity, but also as schools for fur- 
nishing the needed mental discipline, then it seems reasonable 
to suppose that this element will become more general, and just 
in proportion to the value in which it is held by the educated 
and thinking public. The methods of teaching the manual 
element will become better settled through a larger experience ; 
and there will not be the present lack of teachers properly 
trained for this kind of education. 

The revolution in the method of teaching the physical and 



4 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

natural sciences now practically completed in the laboratory' 
method, or the method of investigation as it may properly be 
called, is recognized, not only as best for the acquisition of the 
required knowledge, but also as best for the discipline it imparts ; 
and in the same way the laboratory method of teaching the 
mechanic arts will gradually take its place as a practical, and at 
the same time a disciplinary, element in education. 

It is but a few years since the idea of introducing drawing 
into our schools as an element of general education seemed 
visionary ; and yet to-day it is an accomplished fact in. many 
parts of our own country, and has been for a much longer time 
in many countries abroad. Drawing is now regarded by many 
educators as an established factor in elementary education, and 
destined to work its way into all classes of public schools. 
It was only after it was plainly seen that there is a wide dis- 
tinction to be made between drawing as an art and the drawing 
which pertains to a specific industry of which the former can 
be considered only in the light of the most general preparation, 
that the art began to be regarded as a possible fundamental 
factor in a common education. Until recently but little atten- 
tion has been given to the same broad distinction, which under- 
lies all the manual processes. The old idea of " trade-schools " 
— that is, schools for teaching the technical details of specific 
industries — has become so fixed in the public mind that some 
writers on the general subject, and some reports of school com- 
mittees, have advocated the introduction of trades into the 
public schools. To all who entertain this idea I earnestly com- 
mend a paper on " Technical Training in American Schools," 
by E. E. White, LL.D., president of Purdue University, Indiana, 
issued by the Bureau of Education in Washington ; and, while 
I entirely agree with the conclusions of the paper referred to 
as regards the introduction of trades into our public schools, 
no matter of what grade, I am further convinced on general 
grounds, and from some opportunity of observing the working 
of trade or special industrial schools, in contrast with general 
mechanic art schools, in which drawing and other mechanic arts 
enter as a proper factor, that trade-schools can only be justified, 
if at all, in a few exceptional cases depending upon the charac- 
ter of those to be taught, and in some few instances upon the 
character of the industry, such as practical farming, horticul- 
ture, pomology, or any other industry in which the manual ele- 



APPENDIX. 6 

merit forms a very inconsiderable part of the special knowledge 
required, and does not involve those qualities of precision, con- 
secutiveness, and quantitative relation, which would give it spe- 
cial educational value. To special schools of this class I shall 
hereafter refer. The arts are few, and the trades many. It is 
the province of a fundamental general education to deal with 
generals, leaving to the student the task of finding out how his 
general knowledge applies in special cases. In short, he learns 
the technique of his trade after he leaves the school, and enters 
upon his chosen specialty. But it is quite another thing to 
leave out of his general education all those elements which 
underlie all industrial pursuits, and particularly if it can be seen 
that the introduction of these general elements is not only edu- 
cationally feasible, but desirable for the roundness and unity of 
the general education, and valuable, no matter what the future 
of those so educated may be. 

Nor does it follow, as some suppose, that, because the manual 
element is introduced into a course of study in proportion 
to its value as an educational factor, therefore all who take 
the course must necessarily become mechanics, any more than 
it follows that, because all are taught the art of drawing, all 
. must therefore follow some pursuit in which this art enters as 
a necessary element. But it does follow that these mechanic 
art shops or laboratories would be used just as laboratories for 
the teaching of other arts or sciences are used, — first, to teach 
the subject as a part of the general education, and, second, 
for the advanced study of those who wish to become speciajlists 
in this particular direction ; that is, for general and professional 
. education. 

It is often asserted, and I think with truth, that American 
boys are disinclined, for various reasons, to enter upon indus- 
trial pursuits, and especially where a long shop apprenticeship 
is required. My experience is that the objection is oftener on 
the part of the parents, for the reason that the boy's general 
education must stop, and because, as a rule, it surrounds him with 
influences which often prove fatal at this critical period of his 
life. It is also sometimes thought that social considerations in- 
fluence the boy as well as his parents. But as soon as school 
authorities, teachers, and the public generally show their respect 
for labor, by giving it consideration through educational prepara- 
tion, no caste feeling will enter into the parents' or boy's choice 



6 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

of a future career. He will simply consult his taste and apti- 
tudes, and the opportunities that offer, when he is ready to go 
to work. The experience in our own School of Mechanic Arts 
for the past five years fully sustains this position. Special 
technical schools confessedly for the children of the poor would 
inevitably become caste schools ; but a general technical training 
in some of the manual arts, including drawing, required of all 
during the proper period, occupying only a few hours per week, 
say from the age of twelve to sixteen, and before the student 
has sufficient mental maturity to work successfully in a science 
laboratory, would have a'A entirely opposite effect, and be at the 
same time an excellent preparation for industrial pursuits or for 
farther study, no matter in what direction ; for whatever sub- 
ject cultivates care, close observation, exactness, patience, and 
method, must be a valuable training and preparation for all studies 
and pursuits. But few persons, I apprehend, whose education 
did not include drawing, have not had occasion to regret it, if on 
no higher ground than their inability to use the pencil or draw- 
ing-pen for the simplest purposes with any effect or satisfaction. 

Before proceeding to an account of some schools in which the 
Russian method of mechanic art education is used, I will sim- 
ply add that the Imperial Technical School of Moscow was the 
first to show that it is best to teach an art before attempting to 
apply it ; that the mechanic arts can be taught to classes 
through a graded series of examples by the usual laboratory 
methods which are used in teaching the sciences. The ideas 
involved in the system are, first, to entirely separate the art 
from the trade, — the instruction-shops from the construction- 
shops ; second, to teach each art in its own shop ; third, to 
equip each shop with as many places and sets of tools, and thus 
accommodate as many pupils as the teacher can instruct at the 
same time ; fourth, to design and graduate the series of samples 
to be worked out in each shop on educational grounds ; and, 
fifth, to adopt the proper tests for proficiency and progress. 

It is indeed true, that, after the arts have been learned, the 
next logical step in a full course is to teach their applications in 
constructions, either in private works, or as is done in the Mos- 
cow school. In such a school, where the curriculum covers six 
years, and the young engineer is needed in the service imme- 
diately upon graduation, and has not the opportunity, for any 
reason, to learn the details of construction in private works, 
then the attaching of the works to the school may be justified. 



APPENDIX. 7 

THE IMPERIAL TECHNICAL SCHOOL 

IN MOSCOW, RUSSIA. 

This school is entitled to the leading place in any list of 
schools giving mechanic art education, on account of the fact 
that it was the first to put this instruction upon a strictly scien- 
tific and educational basis, — first, by separating the laboratories, 
or instruction- shops, from the manufacturing establishment; 
and, second, by working out a systematic scheme of instruction 
in each of the underlying arts. 

I. The Okganizatiof op the School. 

The old school of Arts and Trades was founded in 1830 ; and 
by an imperial decree dated June 1, 1868, this school was 
re-organized and raised to the rank of the leading polytechnic 
schools of Europe. The course of instruction is six years, — 
three of general studies, and three of higher special studies. 

The work of the second three years embraces three sections of 
students, mechanical engineers, technological engineers, and 
constructing engineers. There is a fourth section, called pra- 
ticiens, formed exclusively of those who show exceptional apti- 
tude for practical work, but whose theoretical studies are 
insufficient to pass them into the engineering sections. They 
take much fuller shop courses, which they complete in three 
years. 

To be admitted to the school the applicant must present pre- 
sumptive evidence of qualification, by presenting one of the 
following certificates : — 

1. A certificate of the seventh class in a gymnasium, giving 
classical instruction. 

2. A certificate of a completed course in a real-school of the 
first class. 

3. A certificate of a course of study taken in a school of 
equal rank. 

Before being definitely admitted he must pass a test exami- 
nation in the following subjects : — 

Russian Language. — Composition on a theme chosen by the 
professor. 

Mathematics. — Arithmetic, algebra, elementary analysis, 
geometry, and plane trigonometry. 



.8 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

Physics. — A course of general physics. 

Drawing. — Freehand and mechanical drawing. 

Without the above-named certificates, the applicant must 
pass an examination embracing all the studies of a real-school 
of the first class. 

The studies of the school combine theory and practice, fol- 
lowed in parallel courses. The extent of the scientific instruc- 
tion is the same as in the leading polytechnic schools of Europe. 
The practical studies embrace freehand and mechanical draw- 
ing ; the art of turning in wood and metals, joinery and pattern- 
making, fitting, locksmithing, forging, moulding, and casting. 
For the practical studies, special workshops have been estab- 
lished, furnished with all the pedagogical objects necessary for 
methodic instruction, which is given by special masters, who 
demonstrate to the pupils the fundamental principles of hand- 
work in the mechanic arts. The school possesses in addition 
large manufacturing works, with all the adjuncts of a first-class 
establishment. 

These works employ salaried workmen, and execute orders 
annually to the amount of a hundred and fifty tp two hundred 
thousand francs. Still the main aim of the works is to furnish 
students an example of the conditions of industrial work in all 
its practical details. 

II. The Administration of the School, [ts Employees 
AND Pupils. 

Serge Barsheff, honorary curator, privy councillor. 
Victor Delia- Vos, director, actual councillor of state. 

The corps of instruction consists of professors, masters, 
repeaters, numbering . . ... . . . 46 

Engineer-in-chief, assistants and foremen ... 11 
Various employees .15 

72 
Under officers and soldiers in the employ of the school . 84 
Workmen employed in the workshops, average number . 100 

184 
Free boarding students . . . . . . 100 

Boarding students, paying twelve hundred francs per year, 200 
Day students paying four hundred franes per year . . 282 

582 '■' 



APPENDIX. 




10 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

The pedagogical council consists of the following : - 

Barsheff, Honorary Curator. Kossoff. 

Della-Vos, President. Porshesinsky. 

Bashenoff, Secretary. Toukovsky. 

Kazaouroff. Kolley. 

Letnikoff. Petroff. 

Arkipoff. Winogradoff. 

Orloff. Wladimirsky. 

Aeschlimann. Zeloff. 

LeBEDEFF. RUNKLE.I 



III. The Method of Instruction in the Mechanic Arts. 

The following statement is extracted from the account given 
by Director Della-Vos, of the exhibit of the Moscow school at 
Philadelphia in 1876, and again substantially the same at the 
Paris Exposition in 1878 : — 

" In 1868 the school council considered it indispensable, in order to secure 
the systematical teaching of elementary practical work, as well as for the 
more convenient supemsion of the pupils while practically employed, to 
separate entirely the school workshops from the mechanical works in which 
the orders from private individuals are executed, admitting pupils to the 
latter only when they have perfectly acquired the principles of practical 
labor. 

*' By the separation alone of the school workshops from the mechanical 
works, the principal aim was, however, far from being attained. It was 
found necessary to work out such a method of teaching the elementary prin- 
ciples of mechanical art as, firstly, should demand the least possible length 
of time for their acquirement; secondly, should increase the facility of the 
supervision of the gradationary employment of the pupils 5 thirdly, should 
impart to the study itself of practical work the character of a sound, sys- 
tematical acquirement of knowledge; and fourthly, and lastly, as should 
facilitate the demonstration of the progress of every pupil at every stated 
time. Everybody is well aware that the successful study of any art what- 
soever, freehand or linear drawing, music, singing, painting, etc., is only 
attainable when the first attempts at any of them are strictly subject to the 
laws of gradation and successiveness, when every student adheres to a 
definite method or school, surmounting, little by little and by certain 
degrees, the difficulties to be encountered. 

" All those arts, which we have just named possess a method of study 
which has been weU worked out and defined, because, since they have long 
constituted a part of the education of the well-instructed classes of people, 
they could not but become subject to scientific analysis, could not but 
become the objects of investigation, with a view of defining those conditions 
which might render the study of them as easy and regulated as possible. 

1 Elected honorary member, Sept. 11, 1878. 



APPENDIX. 11 

" If we except the attempts made in France in the year 1867 by the cele- 
brated and learned mechanical engineer, A. Cler, to form a collection of 
models for the practical study of the principal methods of forging and weld- 
ing iron and steel, as well as the chief parts of joiners' work, and this with 
a purely demonstrative aim, — no one, as far as we are aware, has hitherto 
been actively engaged in the working-out of this question in its application 
to the study of hand labor in workshops. To the Imperial Technical 
School belongs the initiative in the introduction of a. systematical method of 
teaching the arts of turning, carpentering, fitting, and forging. 

" To the knowledge and experience in these specialties of the gentlemen 
intrusted with the management of the school workshops, and to their warm 
sympathy in the matter of practical education, we are indebted for the 
drawing-up of the programme of systematical instruction in the mechanical 
arts, its introduction in the year 1868 into the workshops, and also for the 
preparation of the necessary auxiliaries to study. In the year 1870, at the 
exhibition of manufactures at St. Petersburg, the school exhibited its 
methods of teaching mechanical arts, and from that time they have been 
introduced into all the technical schools of Russia. 

" And now (1878) we present our system of instruction, not as a project, 
but as an accomplished fact, confirmed by the long experience of ten years 
of success in its results." 

IV. The School Workshops. 

(1) Wood- Turning. — Course I. For instruction in wood- 
turning, thirteen samples or models. Course II. Patterns of 
details and machines, thirty models. 

(2) Joinery. — A course of twenty-five models for instruction 
in joinery and pattern-making. 

(3) Forging. — Models (seventy-nine) for teaching the ma- 
nipulations. 

(4) Metal- Turning. — First course, thirty-eight samples or 
models. Second course, twenty-one models. 

(5) Fitting. — Course I. Time for study, two hundred and 
forty hours on twenty-eight models. Course II. Time for 
study, two hundred and forty hours on twenty-three models. 
Course III. Time for study, two hundred and forty hours on 
twenty-four models. This shop is also fitted with benches, in- 
struments, and apparatus for marking and lining the parts of 
machines to be worked. 

(6) Models for the Practical Study of the Construction of Out- 
ting Instruments. — I. Fourteen models of drills and counter- 
sinks increased to six times the ordinary size. 

II. Eight models of the cutting parts of files increased to 
twenty-four times the ordinary size. 



12 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

III. Ten models of screw-cutting tools increased to six times 
the ordinary size. 

The importance of these models for teaching the theory of 
these tools is obvious. 

It will be noticed that the course in fitting contains seventy- 
five models and seven hundred and twenty hours. It is found 
that one student cannot work the whole series in the given 
time, and the following system is adopted for the engineering 
students : Each student works one-third of the models ; but he 
is held responsible for the remaining two-thirds by studying the 
work of the two who are on his right and left. When either 
of the three receives instruction, the other two must attend. 
In this way all are held responsible for the manner of working 
and the method of solution of each piece. 

The students in the section of praticiens, on the other hand, 
must each work out the entire series. 

With this account of one of the most thoroughly equipped 
and comprehensive schools for mechanic art and mechanical en- 
gineering education in the world, I pass to the 

HOYAL MECHANIC AUT SCHOOL 

IN KOMOTAU, BOHEMIA. 

This school opened Oct. 26, 1874, under the direction of 
Professor Theodore Renter, who, after an inspection of the va- 
rious methods of shop instruction in use in Europe, adopted 
that of the Moscow school, giving credit to Director Delia- Vos. 
No manufacturing works are connected with the school. Its 
simple aim is to educate skilled mechanics in the best and 
quickest way, and with such theoretical knowledge as the me- 
chanic needs in addition to manual skill. The front portion of 
the school-building, only half of which is shown in the cut, is 
used for the theoretical instruction, and the three portions ex- 
tending at right angles in the rear contain the shops. These 
were at first equipped for forty-eight students ; but additional 
facilities have been furnished from time to time to meet the 
increasing number of students. The minimum age for admis- 
sion is fourteen years ; but all ages up to twenty-six years are 
found in the school. The course is two years, and the student 
is occupied nine hours per day, — from eight to twelve M. in the 



APPENDIX. 



13 



study and drawing rooms, and from one to six P.M. in the shops. 
The shop-work holds the first consideration, as the quality of 
this work is the test by which the public is to determine the 
value of the practical instruction. The theoretical subjects and 
the methods of teaching them are determined solely by the 
student's needs as a skilled mechanic. The following is the 
course of study : — 

First Year's Course of Shop - Work. — 1. Carpentry and joinery, 
thirty hours per week for sixteen weeks. 2. Wood-turning, 
thirty hours per week for twelve weeks. 3. Hand-tool work in 
metals, thirty hours per week for twelve weeks. In this course 
the typical forms in locksmithery are used as models, prepara- 
tory to a course in application during the second year. The 
student changes his shop-work every four weeks. 

First Year's Course of Theoretical Studies. — 1. Linear draw- 
ing and the elements of projections, ten hours per week. 2. 
Freehand drawing, four hours per week. 3. Round-hand writ- 
ing, one hour per week, winter term. 4. Arithmetic, five hours 
per week in winter, and two hours in summer. 5. Geometry, 
three hours per week in summer. 6. Physics, one hour per 
week. 7. Machine theory, two hours per week. 8. Simple 
book-keeping and business-papers. 
In all of these subjects only the 
simplest elements are taught in a 
plain and thorough way. 

Second Year's Course of Shop- 
WorJc. — 1. Forging, thirty hours 
per week for eight weeks, two 
hundred and forty hours. 2. 
Foundery-work, thirty hours per 
week for eight weeks. 3. Iron- 
turning, thirty hours per week for 
twelve weeks. 4. Locksmithery, 
an applied course of thirty hours 
per week of twelve weeks. 

Besides the prescribed work 
in this course, each industrious 
student can make one or more 
complete machines. This little 
drilling-machine is not given as a fair specimen, but because I 
happened to have a photograph of it. In this extra work he 




DRILLING-MACHINE . 



BOARD OF EDUCATION. 




KOMOTAU SCHOOL-BUILDJNG — FRONT. 




KOMOTAU SCHOOI.-BUILDIJ(G. — KEAR. 



APPENDIX. 



16 




Scale 1 : 400 (5 mm = 2 M). 



PLAN OF THE KOMOTAU SCHOOL-BUILDING. 



A. 


Entrance Hall. 


M. 


Corridor Hall; Glass Roof. 


B. 


Drawing-Room. 


N. 


Model Joinery and Pattern-Making 


C. 


Model-Room. 


0. 


Iron Foundery. 


D. 


Director's Room. 


P. 


Model Wood-Turning. 


E. 


Lecture-Room. 


Q. 


Iron-Turning. 


F. 


Conference and Recitation Room. 


R. 


Machine Locksmithery. 


GO". 


Janitor's Quarters. 


S. 


Forging Shop. 


H. 


Engine-Room; Glass Roof. 


T. 


Model Locksmithery, 


I. 


Store-Room. 


UU. 


Paved Courts. 


JKL. 


Corridors. 


V. 


Coal Magazine. 


K. 


Students' Entrance. 


w. 


Iron Magazine. 


L. 


Students' Exit. 







For this Plan I am indebted to Director Rover. 



16 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

has only the direction, suggestions, and advice of his teachers, 
in order to cultivate as early as possible his independence in 
design and execution. 

Second Year's Course of Theoretical Studies. — 1. Machine- 
drawing, ten hours per week. 2. Freehand drawing, four hours 
per week. 3. Arithmetic, two hours per week. 4. Stereotomy, 
one hour per week. 5. Applications of arithmetic and geometry 
to simple machine computations, three hours per week. 6. The 
manipulation and manufacture of metals, one hour per week. 
7. Machine theory, two hours per week. 8. Book-keeping and 
business-papers. 

In all the shops the instruction is given through a progressive 
series of models, all of which each student must work ; nor can 
he take a new one till the previous one is satisfactorily made. 
Any student who, through greater industry or capacity, finishes 
the course in advance of the class, can choose his work, with 
the sanction of his teacher, till the course is completed ; but he 
cannot enter a new shop in advance of his class. 

As all the materials are furnished by the school, it claims all 
the work. Each student has a case, with his name attached, in 
which his work is placed. All pieces of marked excellence are 
put into the collection for general and annual exhibitions in the 
name of the student. All the work is kept for two years, and 
then sold to schools and individuals for the purposes of instruc- 
tion. There is a small but growing class of men abroad called 
Technikers. They do not claim to be, or rank with, engineers, 
but are simply skilled and well-educated mechanics ; and these 
men are finding situations as teachers in such schools as that at 
Komotau. They are qualified to give instruction in both the 
theoretical and practical departments, and are likely to be much 
better teachers of shop-work than the mechanic who has only 
his shop experience. While there is not an excess of such men 
abroad, here they are difficult to find. 

This school was established two years before our Mechanic 
Art School at the Institute of Technology, but I did not know 
of it till near the close of our first year. The fact that both 
schools had independently adopted the same method of shop 
instruction, drawn from the same source, made my two days' 
visit in Komotau of peculiar interest. At the time of my visit 
the school was in charge of Professor Rover, from whom I 
received the kindest attention. Professor Renter having been 



APPENDIX. 17 

called to Iserlohn in Prussia, to found another school. Through 
the director of the Komotau school I had the pleasure of meet- 
ing Professor Hauff of the Polytechnic School of Vienna, who 
is the chairman of a commission having in charge the matter of 
intermediate industrial education in Austria. It is proposed to 
establish special schools in all industrial centres throughout the 
empire, having precisely the same aims as that at Komotau, and 
conducted upon the same principles and by the same methods, 
but varied and adapted to the industry of the particular local- 
ity, the theoretical studies conforming to the needs of the par- 
ticular industry. I was informed that the aim and end of these 
schools is to be instruction, and only when the manufacture of 
certain things can be taught in an applied course more success- 
fully than ideal or purely educational models, will it be done ; 
|;he principle having already been settled that these schools 
were in no sense to become or to be regarded as commercial 
manufacturing establishments. The department of commerce 
has also established a practical technical school at Steyr, with 
workshops to teach all the processes in the working of iron 
and steel, — such as forging, turning, chipping, filing, boring, 
scraping, polishing, burnishing, soldering, tempering, annealing, 
gilding, silvering, nickeling, engraving, etching, coloring, stain- 
ing, etc., including applications to wood, bone, horn, and ivory. 
In connection with the programme of the school we find the 
following remarks: — 

"It is now beyond question, that the required education, together with 
the arts belonging to the several trades, can only be gained in special schools 
with workshops fitted up in the proper way. These workshops also make it 
possible for large numbers to fit themselves for the various technical trades, 
without having to travel the unpleasant path which leads through the years 
of apprenticeship, and at the same time to acquire the proper education. 
While the shops here relate to the manufacture of small articles in iron and 
steel, those at Komotau and Klagenfurt pay particular attention to the edu- 
cation of foremen and workmen in machine manufacturing, and those at 
Ferlach to gun-making. 

"Just as the last-named school has proved that it is possible in a few 
years to revive an almost dead industry, and make workmen capable of pay- 
ing taxes out of despairing mechanics, so the school at Komotau has shown 
the most brilliant proofs of usefulness, and the ends there gained have been 
acknowledged at home and abroad. One proof is, that, in spite of the hard 
times, all the pupils from Komotau have found occupation in different manu- 
facturing establishments; and another, that England, a country unsurpassed 
in the manufactures of iron and steel, has already sent some students to the 
school." 



18 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

SCHOOL OF MECHANIC ARTS, 

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, BOSTON, MASS. 

This school was founded by a vote of the corporation of the 
Institute, dated Aug. 17, 1876. Since Oct. 1, 1878, it has been 
in charge of a committee of the faculty, Professor John M. 
Ordway, chairman, upon whom has devolved the main direc- 
tion of the school. While adhering to the spirit and method of 
instruction, the aim has been to make the work in all depart- 
ments as practical as possible, by selecting useful forms, if equally 
good, to teach the particular manipulation. The accompanying 
pages of cuts, showing series of samples used in each shop, are 
given as a general illustration, and not as the only, or even 
necessarily the best, series, for teaching the manipulations in each 
case. Every qualified teacher will naturally design his own 
course, and will also modify it from time to time as experience 
suggests. There is obviously the same freedom here as in the 
teaching of other subjects. The mechanic art courses are as 
follows: In wood — I. Carpentry and joinery; II. Wood-turn- 
ing ; III. Pattern-making. In iron — I. Vise-work ; II. For- 
ging ; III. Foundery-work ; IV. Machine-tool work. 

While these shops are used for the practical instruction of 
our students in mechanical engineering, and for such other pro- 
fessional students of the Institute as desire it, they are most 
largely used by students in the school of mechanic arts. This 
school, in which special prominence is given to manual educa- 
tion, has been established for those who wish to enter upon 
industrial pursuits, rather than to become scientific engineers. 
It is designed to afford such students as have completed the 
ordinary grammar-school course an opportunity to continue the 
elementary scientific and literary studies, together with mechan- 
ical and freehand drawing, while receiving theoretical and 
practical instruction in these various arts, including the nature 
and economic value of the materials with which they deal. 
Nine hours per week — three lessons of three hours each — of 
the students' time are devoted to shop- work, and the balance to 
drawing and other studies ; only one shop course, except in the 
case of special shop students, being carried on at a time. 

It may be well, now, briefly to indicate the steps necessary to 



APPENDIX. 



19 



be taken in fitting up a shop, and in working out the course of 
stud}^ . 

The Shop. — 1. Settle upon the tools and appliances to be 



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used during the course. 2. Decide how many students can be 
taught in a section. 3. Design the fitting-up of the shop, giv- 
ing each student the proper space and facilities, and so arrange 



20 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

that each student, in eacli section, can lock up and control his 
own tools and instruments, which are not to be used in com- 
mon. 

The Course of 8tudy. — 1. Design a series of progressive 
lessons, especially adapted to teach the use of the set of tools 
and appliances pertaining to each course. 2. Let the master 
work each lesson, or sample, that he may settle clearly in his 
own mind the best method of solution, with a statement of the 
reasons therefor. 3. A system of inspection upon which the 
quality of the work can be based, and each student given his 
proper percentage, and which shall also be the means of educat- 
ing the judgment of the student, that it may keep pace with 
his skill of hand to execute. 

We find, then, that in this practical part of the problem 
there are three distinct educational steps. First, the best 
method of solution. Second, skill of hand to execute the work. 
Third, the capacity to judge of the quality of the work. 

The theoretical studies are arithmetic, algebra, geometry, 
English, physics, and drawing. The shops are arranged for 
teaching sixteen in a section, except that for forging, which 
contains only eight forges, on account of the smallness of the 
room. The deficiency has been remedied as far as possible by 
enlarging the foundery, and using portable forges. 

All our shops are entirely too small for the work we are en- 
deavoring to do in them, and the present temporary building 
must soon be replaced by a larger and better adapted one, if the 
purposes of the school are ever fully realized. 

The> Carpentry^ Joinery^ Wood-Turning^ and Pattern Shop, — 
This shop is 50' by 20', one end containing the carpentry and 
joinery benches, and the other the wood-turning lathes shown 
in the cut. The lathes are placed four on each side of two 
benches, and under each lathe are four drawers to hold the tools 
of the four sections. The carpentry and joinery benches at the 
other end of the room are similarly arranged. In the middle of 
the room, the cut shows the saws for cutting up the lumber to 
the dimensions needed in the courses of instruction. The first 
instruction in carpentry and joinery is the use of the saw and 
plane in working wood to given dimensions, and then a series of 
elements follow in order. (See cut.) No. 1, a square joint ; 
2, a mitre joint ; 3, a dovetail joint ; 4, a blind dovetail ; 5, a 
mitre dovetail • 6, a common tenon ; 7, a key tenon ; 8, a tusk 



APPENDIX. 



21 




22 



BOARD OF EDUCATION. 




APPENDIX. 



23 



tenon ; 9, a brace tenon ; 10, a pair of rafters with collar- 
beam ; 11, a truss tenon ; 12, a drawer ; 13, a panel. In addi- 
tion to the above each student makes a small frame, to apply 
several of the elements of the previous lessons. A sample is 
given in the cut. 




SMALL FRAME. 



The instruction in turning (see cut) and circular-section 
pattern-making is given in the following series of models. 
Nos. 1, 2, and 3 represent a series of manipulations in simple 
turning ; 4, 5, and 12, pulleys ; 9, a globe-valve ; 6, 7, 8, 10, 
11, 13, 14, patterns for various forms of pipe. Corresponding 
core patterns form part of the course. Bench patterns, and 
bench and lathe combined, are not included for .want of space. 

The instruction in this shop is given by Mr. George Smith, 
assisted by Mr. Z. Nason. 

The Foundery. — The cut representing the foundery shows a 
part of the sixteen moulding benches, combined with troughs 
for holding the sand, with the cupola furnace at the other end 
of the room. Over the furnace is seen the Sturtevant fan, 
which exhausts the heat and dust from the blacksmith's shop 
beyond. The furnace connects with a flue which passes out of 
the shop, thence underground, into a chimney in the rear end 
of the main Institute building. The blast for the furnace is 
taken from the pipe shown over the door, in the rear right-hand 
corner of the room. An average charge of the furnace is about 
five hundred pounds. 

Foundery Course. — Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, are pieces used in the 
course of filing and chipping ; 6 and 7, curved castings ; 8, a 
sheave; 9, a pulley; 10, a pulley; 11, an eccentric; 12, a 
clutch ; 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, parts of a loom ; 19, 20, cog- 
wheels ; 22, a rack ; 23, a shield. 



24 



BOARD OF EDUCATION. 




APPENDIX. 



25 




26 



BOARD OF EDUCATION. 




APPENDIX. 27 

The Forging Shop. — This shop is fitted with eight forges. 
The Sturtevant pressure blower, which furnishes the blast for 
the forges, is placed in the engine-room. The hoods over the 
forges are connected with a sixteen-inch pipe, which runs longi- 
tudinally near the ceiling of the shop, and enters a No. 4 Stur- 
tevant exhaust blower in the foundery. This exhaust blower 
removes all smoke and dust, and much of the heat. This shop 
was planned and fitted by Mr. B. F. Sturtevant of Boston at 
his own expense. The school is also indebted to him for other 
valuable assistance. 

The Machine-Tool Shop. — This shop contains sixteen engine 
lathes of 4^' bed, four speed lathes, and a Brainard milling 
machine. The engine lathes were made for the school by the 
Putnam Machine Company of Fitchburg, Mass., from new 
designs, and furnished at a greatly reduced cost, and have 
proved in all respects first-class tools. Under each lathe is a 
chest of drawers to hold the tools belonging to the students 
using it. A bench under the window holds the requisite num- 
ber of vises. The shop needs a variety of additional tools, 
which are not furnished for want of room. 

The Chipping, Filing, and Fitting Shop. — This shop contains 
benches with sixteen vises and other needful appliances, with a 
planer, grindstone, etc., for which there is no room in the ma- 
chine-tool shop. 

The instruction in forging, vise-work, and machine-tool work 
is in charge of Mr. Thomas Foley, a thorough and skilful me- 
chanic, who has served his seven years' apprenticeship, and has 
had, besides, a long and varied experience in his profession. 
He has a clear comprehension of the problem of mechanic art 
education; and has, during the past five years, shown equal 
capacity as a teacher. He recognizes that the student should 
acquire something besides simple manual training in this depart- 
ment of education. A want of method, a want of appreciation 
of the ends to be gained on the part of the teacher, are both 
fatal to the best results. Mr. A. W. Sanborn, a graduate of the 
school, is Mr. Foley's assistant. 

It gives me great pleasure to submit Mr. Foley's report, as 
follows : — 

Professor J. D. Runkle. 

Dear Sir, — The system of apprenticeship of the present day, as a gen- 
eral rule, amounts to very little for the apprentice, considering the length of 



28 



BOARD OF EDUCATION. 




APPENDIX. 



29 




30 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

time he must devote to the learning of his trade. He is kept upon such 
work as will most profit his employer, who thus protects himself. If the 
apprentice should be thoroughly taught all branches in the shortest time, he 
would be likely to leave as soon as he could do better, letting his employer 
suffer the loss of time devoted to his instruction. 

Now, it appears like throwing away two or three years of one's life to 
attain a knowledge of any business that can be acquired in the short space 
of twelve or thirteen days by a proper course of instruction. The dexterity 
that comes from practice can be reached as quickly after the twelve days' 
instruction as after the two or more years spent as an apprentice under the 
adverse circumstances spoken of above. The plan here is to give to the stu- 
dent the fundamental principles in such lessons as will teach them most 
clearly, and give practice enough in the shortest time to acquire a knowl- 
edge of the different kinds of tools and various ways of using them. For 
instance, if a man can make a small article in iron, steel, or any other mate- 
rial, perfectly (by such methods), he can make it of larger proportions with 
the additional time and help required for such an undertaking. The same 
in degrees of heat required for fusing or welding metals : if he can do it well 
in a lesser degree, he can certainly do so in a greater with the additional 
facilities. 

After nearly five years' experience in the workshops in my charge, with 
the valuable suggestions of the professors so much interested in the success 
of the school, we find the best results in the time allowed, accomplished by 
the method now in use in the Institute workshops; viz., three lessons per 
week of three hours each. 

The time is just sufficient to ci'eate a vigorous interest without tiring: it 
also leaves a more lasting impression than by taxing the physical powers for 
a longer period. We have tried four hours a day, and find that a larger 
amount of work, and of better quality, can be produced in the three-hour 



In order to give each student the proper credit, and to show him the most 
important points in each piece, the following method has been adopted for 
inspection : Take case of bending. The four shapes to the right of 4 on the 
cut of forgings represent bending of flat and round iron ; and the points to 
be noted by the student are rated as follows • — 

Dimensions 25 

Form 70 

Finish 5 

100 

The most important point in this lesson is the form; the next the dimen- 
sions, and the last the finish. Through all the iron-working and other 
metals in each shop, the same method is carried out. Every piece is made to 
certain dimensions laid down upon the drawing. The object of working to 
dimensions is to establish the necessity of correctness in measurement, and 
is followed throughout the course as a very essential point. The most of the 
exercises convey the idea of the necessity of straight lines in drawing or 
lengthening iron, and graceful curves in bending. 



► 



APPENDIX. 31 

The iron-forger's art is comprised of the following terms and move- 
ments : — 

First, The management of the fire, and the degrees of heat necessary 
for each particular metal forgeable. 

Second, Drawing down, or reducing the cross-section. 

Third, Bending without materially changing the cross-section. 

Fourth, Upsetting, or shortening the piece, and increasing its cross-sec- 
tion. 

Fifth, Fagoting, or building up for welding, and welding the same; and 
welding without fagoting or building up, understood generally as welding. 

Sixth, Splitting. ) The terms are so well understood that they need no 

Seventh, Punching. > explanation. 

Eighth, Chamfering, means hammering the edges down to give the piece 
a light appearance. 

Ninth, Annealing steel. 

Tenth, Hardening and tempering steel. 

Eleventh, Case-hardening iron. 

Annealing brass, copper, etc., is often done by the forger, but does not 
really come under this head, although it is taught in this department. 

The varied forms of construction are simply the adaptation of the in- 
struction course to such variation. 

Together with the main tools — the planer, lathe, milling-machine, upright 
drill, etc. — used in the machine course, the uses of each auxiliary tool are 
thoroughly explained, and sufficient practice given in short lessons to place 
the student on a par, so far as the general knowledge goes, with the three- 
years' apprentice. 

The methods adopted here are as follows : A sketch of the piece is laid 
out to the working dimensions on the blackboard for reference during the 
exercise. The article is then forged in detail by the instructor before the 
class, calling their attention to each particular point necessary to its success- 
ful formation at the same time. There are also duplicate pieces distributed 
through the shop to refresh the memory and assist the eye in forming. Each 
student is rated according to the quantity and quality of his work, which is 
judged by the rules laid down for inspection. 

A Brief Explanation of the Course in Iron and Steel Forging, 
Hardening and Tempering Steel, and Case-hardening Iron. 

The first lesson comprises the building and keeping forge fires in proper 
condition, upon which depends in a great measure the success of forging. 
It also takes in the degrees of heat necessary for the successful working of 
the metals in their varied forms. The other lessons will be explained briefly 
but technically in order corresponding with the number in the cut to be 
found to the left of each piece, or in the centre of the piece when it can be 
so placed to advantage. 

No. 2. Cutting Cold Iron, Bevel-Forging, Drawing , Forming , and Bending. 
— The bevel-forging is shown in the first form of the piece, but destroyed 
in taking its final form. 

No. 3. Drawing and Forming. — Drawing is reducing the cross-section. 



32 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

Forming will be better understood by the following description of the entire 
piece : Drawing from a round piece to form a square, then to form a portion 
of it octagonal, and lastly to a tapered round point. In this figure welding 
is introduced to show the necessity of so doing when using common iron 
(iron most generally used). The result of drawing such material without 
using a welding heat would be the separation of its parts lengthwise. In this 
piece the necessity of maintaining straight lines is impressed, and expected 
to be carried out in future lessons. 

No. 4. Bending does not change the cross-section as much as drawing. In 
some cases it is hardly perceptible. This exercise consists of bending round 
and flat iron in a circular form. The two staples in the centre of the rings 
take in drawing with the bending, and are made in a useful form only be- 
cause it can be done as well so without taking up extra time that might be 
put to a more profitable use. 

Let me say here, that all through the course, whenever the principles can 
be introduced in a useful form without occupying more time than would be 
spent in a plain form, it is invariably carried out. 

No. 5. Welding, Fagot-Welding. — This lesson is intended to show how 
iron can be increased in size by joining a number of pieces together by 
welding where it could not be done so easily or profitably by upsetting. 

No. 6. Upsetting, and Bolt-Making hy Upsetting. — Upsetting shortens the 
piece, and increases its cross-section. The first piece to the right of the figure 
6 shows a piece of round iron upset at one end enough to make a square from 
the round of the same dimensions as the diameter of the round, and intended 
as preparatory to the working of the other figure to the right, — a bolt upset 
in the same manner to form the square head, enough being upset at the end 
of the piece to form the head in a heading-tool. 

No. 7. Upsetting while Bending and Forming. — This piece, being a square 
made of square iron with well-defined corners inside and out, is pretty difl&- 
cult to make by this method if great care is not taken in handling it. This 
method saves considerable time where it can be used It is not the strongest 
form, and only used where neatness in appearance or nice fitting is required. 

No. 8. Upsetting before Bending and Forming. — This piece being square 
only on the outside, while the inside corner is round, it is a stronger form, 
but for purposes differing from fig. 7; viz., a knee, angle-iron, or bracket, 
as it is termed. Sometimes it is intended to show the different methods of 
doing work similar in construction. 

No. 9. Bending and Twisting. — Bending in this case (the piece being a 
floor-timber hanger) is done without upsetting, leaving it strong enough for 
its purpose by making the inside and outside of the turn rounding. The 
twisting is simply to bring the other end in position to receive the timber. 

No. 10. Drawing, Bending, and Twisting. — The object in drawing the 
ends is to alter the form from square to round, and also make it lighter 
where the hook and eye are turned, the bending of which has already been 
described. The twist in the centre of the square part is intended to show 
how this part of ornamental work is done. The other figure No. 10, an S 
hook, as it is termed, is a part of this lesson, and is intended to accustom 
the student to the graceful curving of iron. 



APPENDIX. 




34 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

No. 11. Upsetting, Welding, Forming, and Punching. — A tool for mak- 
ing the heads of bolts, rivets, etc., known as a heading-tool. 

No. 12. Upsetting, Drawing, Bending, Chamfering, aiid Punching. — This 
piece, a bracket, combines the movements designated by the heading of the 
lesson. We find, in such combinations thi"oughout the course, that it keeps 
the student well up in memory (and practice with the hands) of the past 



No. 13. Bending, Draioing, Welding, and Forming. — In this combina- 
tion the ring is made in three pieces, involving the above movements. The 
object of this piece is to show how large bands of this form can be made 
with economy of time and material. 

No. 14. Butt or Jump Weld. — This piece is intended to show how a 
swell can be made in the centre, or any other point, of the bar; also to show 
the treatment such welds should receive after welding, in order to preserve 
the strength of the weld. 

No. 15. Drawing and Upsetting in Heading-Tool. — Rivets and clout or 
dog nails are what has been made in the tool No. 11. The main feature in 
the lesson is making the required shaped head, and keeping the body of the 
piece in the centre of the head. 

No. 16. Upsetting and Drawing. — One of the hexagonal-headed bolts 
was made by upsetting the bolt to form the head. The other, a small one, 
No. 16, will be found forming a part of No. 13, and was made by drawing 
the body of the piece, and forming the head out of the stock from which the 
body was drawn. The object of this lesson is to give the necessary practice 
required to form the sides of the head uniform. 

No. 17. Punching. Making Square and Hexagonal Nuts. — In this les- 
son the different methods of making nuts by the use of the hammer alone, 
and by the use of the hexagonal tool, are carried out. 

No. 18. Upsetting, Punching, Welding, and Fitting. — This piece, a solid 
eye-stay or brace, as it is termed, besides the combination used in former 
lessons, takes in fitting or setting the piece to a given aiigle as a support. 
Countersinking for screw-heads is also included. 

No. 19. Punching, Splitting, Forming, and Welding. — This form of hasp 
is only introduced to give practice in splitting, along with the other processes. 

No. 20. Bending, Scarfing, and Welding Round Iron — The links of 
chain that form the lesson introduce a different scarf for w(4ding from the 
ordinary one of straight round iron. The twisting of the chain is also 
brought in here. 

No. 21. Bending and Welding Flat and Edgewise. — The two pieces 
numbered as above are close together on the plate, and need but little 
explanation on account of the correctness of their delineation, the diffei-ence 
in the shape of scarfing before welding being the only excuse for making 
this remark as the point of the lesson. 

No. 22. Drawing, Bending, and Welding. — A piece well known as an 
eye-bolt or ring-bolt, the manner of shaping and scarfing being the particu- 
lar points in the piece. A nut at the end of the bolt, with a screw cut upon 
it, will be described at the close of the lessons. This figure will be found 
upon the cut in conjunction with No. 28, a ring welded after being passed 
through the eye making the piece complete. 



APPENDIX. 35 

No. 23. Drawing, Welding, and Forming. — The main point in this piece 
is the formation of the eye by turning and welding it in such a manner as 
to make it appear as a solid piece of metal punched and worked out. It is 
only intended, as a general thing, for work to be finished. The figure itself 
is intended for a rope-hook. 

No. 24. Drawing, Punching, Upsetting, Welding, and Riveting. — In 
introducing this piece it is considered necessary that the student should be 
able to construct one of the most essential tools used in the art of forging; 
viz., a blacksmith's tongs; and, as it combines nearly all that has been gone 
through in former lessons, it naturally brings to mind what might be lost in 
a measure without such a combination of them. 

No. 25. Pimching, Drawing, and Forming. — The piece here represented 
differs only in the formation of the eye (by punching) and the hook part 
(by flattening, to give it greater strength) from No. 23. This hook is used 
generally as a chain-hook. 

No. 26. Scarf- Welding, Flat Iron. {Common Iron.) — This piece, an 
L or right-angled weld, has to be scarfed in a different manner from any 
thing before in this course, and on this account it is brought in here, with 
the additional point, squaring the piece. 

No. 27. Scarf-Welding, Flat Iron. {Norway Iron.) — A different form 
of scarf from last number. It is what is termed a T weld, and the peculi- 
arity of the scarf is one of the most essential points; another, the forming 
of the piece before taking a second welding-heat, in order to give the piece 
the appearance of being solid. In this lesson we use the best of iron, and 
in the last poor iron, or what is in common use: by this means the student 
is brought to see the difference of treatment in welding the two qualities of 
iron. 

No. 28. Bending and Welding. — The figure with the number above 
attached in the cut is a ring welded after being passed through the eye of 
the ring-bolt No. 22, making the two as one complete piece, a ring-bolt. 
The most particular feature in this piece is the forming of the scarf in such 
a manner as to make the welding of it easy. 

No. 29. Jump Weld, Round upon Flat. — The round and flat iron welded 
in this way clearly shows by their scarfing how any other shaped iron can be 
welded together in the same way. In this piece the scarfs differ from the 
former scarfs materially. The varied uses to which the piece can be put can 
easily be perceived. 

No 30. Drawing, Forming, Punching, and Welding. — This combina- 
tion brings into play some difficult movements in order to produce a sound 
swivel, as the piece is termed. One of the pieces forged in lesson No. 15 
forms the revolving portion of the piece when complete. 

No. 31. Bending and Riveting. — The tripod with this number in the 
centre, although it takes in bending, is intended more particularly to show 
how riveting cold iron is done. By the addition of bending, it leaves the 
piece in a useful form. 

No. 32. Scarf ng, Riveting, and Calking Boiler-Plate. — The object of 
this lesson is to show how iron plates can be put together, and made steam- 
tight. Some of the rivets are riveted with the use of a heading-tool, and 
some are riveted in the ordinary way with hammers. The piece is after- 
wards calked to make it tight, with a tool termed a calking-tool. 



36 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

No. 33. Steel- Forging. — Cast steel of different grades and different man- 
ufactures is introduced throughout the course of steel-forging. Spring steel, 
too, is taken in, and the many ways of determining the quality and meth )d 
of treating it in its various changes. 

The first piece, No. 33, is an S wrench, — to be finished in the filing 
course, where the reasons for so doing are explained. In forging this piece 
the degree of heat necessary for the successful working of steel is practi- 
cally illustrated by the instructor, and consequently very few failures occur. 
Annealing, or softening, hardening, and tempering, comes in at the close of 
the steel lessons. 

No. 34. Welding Steel and Iron together, and Steel and Steel together. — 
A flat piece of iron and steel are welded together, after the very essential 
preparation in scarfing, and then the steel and steel are welded, making the 
piece complete in six inches in length. 

No. 35. Forked or Split Weld. {Steel and Iron.) — A form of welding 
in more general use than any other; and, wherever it can be used with con- 
venience, insures economy in time and strength in the piece, being sup- 
ported on each side by the iron, making, as a general thing, a better weld or 
more substantial piece. 

No. 36. Tapers and Bevels. {Cast Steel.) — A blacksmith's punch and 
cold-chisel, numbered as above, upon the cut, is intended to carry out the 
heading of the lesson, making true tapers and bevels throughout. 

No. 37. Drawing and Forming. — The first one, a right-hand, diamond- 
pointed lathe-tool (to be used in the machine-shop). The correctness of its 
shape and temper prompts the student to have it as near perfect as possible, 
on account of having to use the same tool in his future work. 

The second, a ratchet drill (its shape and temper differing considerably 
from a lathe or vertical drill) is clearly explained, while in comparison the 
other forms are shown at the same time. 

No. 38. Drawing Tapers and Bevels. — The first piece of this number, 
a graver or diamond-pointed hand-tool (to be used in the machine-shop 
course), is plain in its appearance; but the main point is the tempering of the 
piece. 

The second, a matching-tool, a wood-working revolving tool The object 
in introducing this plain form is to show in the last lesson (tempering) how 
sucli wood-working tools as moulding, planing, and matching tools should 
be tempered to insure comparative success in working wood. 

No. 39. Tapers and Bevels. {Drawing Cast Steel.) — The first piece. No. 
39j is a cape-chisel, used for cutting gi'ooves in iron or any other metal. It 
is formed from a square to an octagonal form, to give practice in changing 
steel, as well as iron, into different shapes; but the main point is the forma- 
tion of the chisel part of the piece. The second piece. No. 39, is a centre- 
punch, a tool in use among nearly all metal-workers. 

No. 40. Drawing and Shaping. — The first piece. No. 40, is cast-steel 
offset spring. The second, a half-elliptic spring, made of spring steel. The 
object in introducing the different kinds of steel for this purpose is to show 
the difference in methods of tempering each, one being hardened in water, 
the other in oil. 

No. 41. Drawing and Shaping. (Cast Steel.) — A right-hand side tool, 
to be used in course in machine-shops. 



APPENDIX. 37 

No. 42. Drawing and Bevelling. (Cast Steel.) — A stone-drill, the cor- 
rect form and temper being the main features in the piece. 

No. 43. Drawing, Punching, and Tapering. {Cast Steel.) — A riveting 
hammer. The idea of bringing as many tools used in working iron into the 
course as possible has been carried out as far as consistent with the time 
allowed for giving a general knowledge of the manipulations. At the close 
of the course, hardening and tempering are explained. A set of the pieces 
is hardened and tempered before the class. Then each student tempers his 
pieces, and they are then tested to see if they are fit to do the work intended 
for them. 

An excuse must be made for the incorrectness in the shape of some of the 
pieces, as they are the forms made by the students ; but I think an impartial 
judge would allow that they will compare favorably with work done daily by 
blacksmiths with as many years' experience as the student has had days. 

The use of stocks and dies for screw-cutting, and drills, countersinks, 
etc., is taught also. 

Description of Course in Vise-Work. 

*A given time is allowed for the completion of each piece. If a student 
completes his work within the given time, he is allowed to take the next 
piece, or make any article he chooses, to use up the time allowed for the 
lesson. Each lesson in filing is varied in such a manner as to insure the 
introduction gf the different shaped files, and their application to the varied 
forms. 

The machine and filing course, occupying the same plate without regard to 
their precise order, must necessarily be followed by number, without regard 
to position. 

The pieces intended for filing are planed in order to remove the rough 
scale so detrimental to files. The pieces, however, are planed out of true, 
in order to have the student bring the piece to perfection by the use of the 
file. 

Lesson 1. No. 17. Filing to Line. — A plain block of cast iron, a cer- 
tain amount of which is filed off true to given lines struck off by the planer. 
In this piece the student is taught how to regulate the movement of the file 
in order to produce a true surface, with the assistance of a straight edge. 

Lesson 2. No. 17. — The side and end are filed square with first true 
surface, a steel square being used to assist in its formation. 

Lesson 3. No. 18. Cast Iron. — On one side of piece No. 17 a half- 
hexagonal form is laid out and lined in the vise by the student, and finally 
finished in that form with the file. In this case the one block is made to do 
service in the three lessons, saving time and material. 

Lesson 4. No. 19. Cast Iron. — The object of this piece is to show 
the different shaped fiJes used in making rack-teeth. This lesson shows how 
any sharp- bottomed piece can be formed, aside from the rack. 

Lesson 5. No 20. Dovetailing. (Wrought Iron.) — This piece intro- 
duces drilling, sawing, chipping, and filing. The difference and method of 
working the two materials, cast and wrought iron, are brought out in this 
lesson, comparing the method of finishing with the last lesson. 

Lesson 6. No. 21. — A cast-steel wrench, made in forging course, intro- 



J 



38 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

duces inside and outside curve-filing, square hole filed from a round one, 
also draw-filing. 

Lesson 7. No. 22. Parallel Fining Tongues and Grooves. — An iron 
casting, lined out by the student and fitted in the form represented; the 
perfection of which is a good indication of the progress made after the few 
lessons already taken. 

Lesson 8. No. 23. Freehand Filing, with use of Hand-Vise. — A round 
cast-steel piece reduced in diameter its entire length, and filed at one end to 
a tapering point ; the main feature in the piece being a true taper, and hav- 
ing the point in the centre of the body. 

Lesson 9. No. 25. — Comes under the same heading as last number. 
This piece is reduced the whole length in diameter ; then a given portion is 
reduced still more, in order to form a shoulder on the piece, making what is 
termed a screw-blank (Material, cast steel.) 

Lesson 10. No. 24. — Classed the same as last two numbers. Is a piece 
of cast steel (round) filed into the shape of an acorn, from memory, by the 
student. 

Lesson 1L No. 26. Ring-Work. Freehand Filing. (Cast Iron.) — The 
blank to the right of the number shows the piece before filing; the one to the 
left is the finished form. The first form is square ai'ound the ring, and 
finally finished into a round form. 

Lesson 12. No. 27. Chipping Bevels. (Cast Iron.) — The first form is 
a plain block, lined upon the j)laner the distance from the edge intended for 
the bevel. This piece introduces the use of the flat cold-chisel. 

Lessons 13, 14, and 15. No. 28. — Upon this one block (wrought iron) 
we introduce key-way or key-seat chipping, half-round chamfering, convex 
and concave chipping, involving the use of cape-chisels, half-round and flat 
chisels, and shows the difference in treatment of the two materials; viz., 
cast and wrought iron. By making one block serve for the three lessons, it 
saves time, stock, and room. 

Lesson 16. No. 29. Drilling, Chipping, and Filing to Line. — A planed 
flat piece of cast iron upon which is laid out or lined an oval shape. All that 
can be drilled out of it is next done, and the stock remaining within the 
lines is then chipped and filed to the line. 

Lesson 17. No. 30. Ward-Filing and Key-Fitting. — A key-blank is 
taken for this purpose, and filed to given dimensions, and afterwards fitted 
to the lock. 

Lesson 18. No. 31. Screw-Filing. — The object of this lesson is to 
show how a screw can be cut with a file, when the lathe or stocks and dies 
are not available. 

Lesson 19. No. 32. Scraping. — The three pieces together with the 
scraping-tool below them, No. 33, show what is necessary to produce a true 
surface by this method. 

No. 33 is a very fine piece of forging and tempering, forged and finished 
in the filing course, and not set down in the forging course, by mistake. 

Description of the Course in Machine-Tool Work. 
Lesson 1. A screw-cutting or engine lathe is taken to pieces, and each 
particular piece, used in the construction of the tool, is described in order 



APPENDIX. 



39 




40 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

that the class may be made familiar with it before using it, and by this 
means expensive machinery may be saved from unnecessary damage. 

Lesson 2. Centring, Squaring Ends, Boughing and Finishing Chip. (Cast 
Iron.') — The piece of cylindrical form is first trued up, afterward centre- 
drilled, countersunk, squared up on the ends, and then a roughing and 
smoothing chip. 

Lesson 3. Taper Turning. (Cast Iron.) — The first piece numbered on 
the cut is turned two different tapers. The stock of the last lesson is used 
in this, to save the time centring and squaring up : consequently the first 
piece, Lesson 2, does not appear upon the cut. 

No. 4. Turning Flat Pieces upon the Edges. — This piece, a flat chuck- 
drill, intended for use on piece No. 5, shows how flat pieces can be tui-ned on 
the sides and chamfered on the ends, and also made into a tool. 

A rough wrought-iron piece of cylindrical form centred, etc., as in the 
case of the preceding piece, but wholly differing in the manner of working 
it. In this lesson we introduce the tools required for turning and boring 
wrought iron (differing considerably in form from the tools used in working 
cast iron); namely, the diamond-pointed tool, side tools, right and left twist 
drill, flat chuck-drill (with its rest), taper reamer, screw-cutting tool, round- 
nosed or spoon-shaped tool, parting or cutting-off tool. 

The introduction of various auxiliary tools, such as the centre rest, forked 
centre, square centre, etc., gives a great amount of practice in wrought iron 
working in this one piece. In this piece may be found centre rest chucking, 
the different forms of bearings in use, taper fitting, outside screw cutting, 
drilling through the piece at the end of the taper fit, convex and concave 
turning with engine and hand or speed lathes, and use of tools accompany- 
ing the last-named lathe. 

No. 6. Chucking, Inside Screw Cutting, etc. — This piece is fitted to the 
screw cut upon the last piece, showing the uses of the boring-tool, recessing 
or inside cutting-off tool, on the outside of the piece. The tools described in 
the former lessons are brought in play, slightly altered to suit the material 
(cast iron), also the method of facing up the plate of iron in order to make 
it true, and showing how to lay out and drill holes at equal distances from 
one another upon a given circle. 

No. 7. Pulley Chucking, Turning, Reaming, etc. — A driving fit, crown 
turning, squaring, and filing with speed, are introduced in this piece. Ac- 
companying it, and driven through the centre of the piece, is an arbor upon 
which the pulley is turned. This arbor, like the one No. 13, is made of 
steel annealed first, and tempered when the ends are finished; finally the 
body is turned to fit the pulley, and by this method insuring the truthful- 
ness of the arbor for a longer period on account of the ends being tempered. 
No. 8. Bolt-Turning, and Screw-Cutting outside. — This piece, made in the 
forging course, is used here to show how this form can be finished with more 
accuracy than by the methods in general use, such as stocks and dies, screw- 
cutting machines, bolt-cutters, etc. It is only intended for true fitting, too 
expensive a method for rough purposes, but invaluable for service in first- 
class machinery. The tapping of the nuts by the machine-tap, and finishing 
of the nuts, are also brought in in this lesson. 

No. 9. Shows the turning and fitting of shafting couplings, or any other 



APPENDIX. 



41 



piece where a driving or running fit is required. Key-seat cutting, splining, 
key-fitting, etc., with the use of planer, hand-splining tools, etc., for this 
purpose. 

No. 10 introduces the use of the planer in fitting the two parts of the 
box and bottom of the piece, termed a pedestal or pillar block. The lesson 
also shows how the bolt-holes should be laid out and drilled in order that 
the bolts should have a proper bearing in connecting the cap and bottom of 
the box, so as to make a substantial bearing for the introduction of the 




STEAM-ENGINE CONSTKUCTED BY 



SANBOKN. 



main feature of the lesson; viz., a boring-bar, a tool used for boring engine- 
cylinders, etc. In this piece although upon a small scale, is carried out 
each particular point required on a larger scale. 

No, 11. Brass-Turning. — In this single piece the uses of the various 
tools for outside' turning, at the same time the reverse tools for inside turn- 
ing, are explained. The main point in the lesson is to show the great differ- 
ence in the shape of the tools required for use upon the softer metals. 



42 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

Nos. 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 are pieces worked out in the Universal Mill- 
ing Machine. 

The uses of the index-head, gear-cutting, straight and bevelled, the many- 
sided forms that can be cut with the help of the index-head, spiral cutting, 
use of vise attached to the machine, etc., — all the movements necessary to 
accomplish any of the pieces, — are executed by the students before actual 
work is commenced. By this means they become familiar with the working 
of it, and consequently have more confidence in themselves, and are less liable 
to damage the machine or tools. 

Nos. 12 and 16 represent gear-cutting. 

No. 13. — An arbor used in connection with No. 15 in spiral cutting. 

No. 14. — A piece of plain milling, six sided on one end and seven upon 
the other. 

No. 15. — A piece of spiral cutting. 

Many other pieces are drawn in, such as fluting reamers, taps, etc. 

After acquiring a knowledge of the use of the tools by this method, the 
student takes in hand a piece or machine of his own design, — for instance, 
a lathe, steam-engine, etc., — thus showing how easily this method can be 
applied to construction. 

With this closes the present course of instruction in use in the machine- 
shop. 

It has been supposed that these elementary shop courses could 
not be so conducted as to give the students much notion of any 
specific applications in construction ; but any one who will study 

Mr. Foley's report carefully 
j^iiaiR^;T5i|iai will, I think, come to a differ- 

y ent conclusion. As illustra- 

tions I insert cuts of work 
done by two pupils, whose 
whole knowledge and experi- 
ence were gained in the shops 
during their two years' course. 

ELECTEICIACHINE MADE EV H. M. POPE. ButthetimC dcVOtcd tO shop 

instruction is too short to ena- 
ble all students to show in a like way, and to the same extent, 
what they can do in application. If the course were three 
years, each student could devote the time allotted to shop 
instruction during the third year, in working out one or more 
of his own designs, which would be a proper termination of his 
shop studies in connection with the school. 




APPENDIX. 43 

MECHANIC AET INSTRUCTION 

IN THE STATE COLLEGE, ORONO, MAINE. 

President Fernald says, " This instruction was introduced 
into our Department of Mechanics four years ago, and has been 
prosecuted with constant interest and success. We have estab- 
lished, in shops of a temporary cliaracter, two courses, — vise- 
work and forging, carrying out the system much as is done in 
the Massachusetts Institute of Teclmology. Pupils take to the 
work with zeal, and their progress in it has been in the highest, 
degree satisfactory. The number of lessons in vise-work is 
forty-two, of three hours each, five per week. The course in- 
cludes twenty-three different pieces. Sometimes the class has 
been divided, each section working on alternate days. The 
course in forging includes twenty-eight pieces, with lessons in 
length the same as in vise-work, and about the same number. 
At the earliest date possible we design to extend the system in 
our college. We do not regard the work as interfering with 
other studies, but as constituting a part of a carefully devised 
scheme, or course of study, in which it is entitled to the time 
required. It is scarcely possible that manual skill can be ac- 
quired in accordance with a definite and progressive plan of 
work, in which the principles and processes are made prominent, 
without at the same time giving a certain amount of intellectual 
discipline, an amount by no means unimportant." 



THE DEPARTMENT OF MECHANIC ARTS, 

PURDUE UNIVERSITY, LAFAYETTE, IND. 

In 1879 the collegiate department of the university was 
re-organized, and made to embrace three courses, — the scien- 
tific, the agricultural, and the mechanical. An " experimental 
station " was attached to the agricultural course, and workshops 
to the mechanical course. Mr. William F. M. Goss, a graduate 
of the School of Mechanic Arts of the Massachusetts Insti- 
tute of Technology, was appointed instructor in mechanics. 
Mr. Goss has furnished me with a plan of the shops, and a 
very full account of the equipment and method of instruction 



44 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

pursued in them, from which I have made the following con- 
densed statement : — 

' ' Applicants for admission to the mechanical .course must be over sixteen 
years of age, and pass satisfactory examinations in the common branches, 
elementary algebra including quadratic equations, history of the United 
States, physical geography, and physiology. Graduates of high schools, who 
hold a certificate of the State Board of Education, are admitted without 
examination. 

Mechanical Course. • 

N.B. — The required branches are printed in small caps. ; the elective branches in Italics. 
FRESHMAN YEAR. 

SHOP PRACTICE. 

1st Term. Wood-Work. Cabpentrt. Geometry. Industrial Drawing. 

2d Term, j P---. \ \ ^i™,\^rirN^JX' ! «™- I—- D-™- 

3d Term. Vise-Work. Machine-Drawing. S ^^^^I^^'^' ^ ^- | Industrial DsAwiNa. 

English Composition, one lesson a week; Military Tactics, three exercises a week. 

SOPHOMORE YEAR. 
SHOP practice. 
1st Term. Forging. Machine-Drawing. Higher Algebra. Ancient History. 

2d Term. Machine-Work. Machine-Drawing. Trigonometry. Physics. 

3d Term. Machine- Work. Mill- Work; Machinery. Surveying. Physics. • 

Literary Exercises, one a week; Military Tactics, three exercises a week. 

The shop practice includes two hours of actual work in the shop daily, five days each week. 
Students who wish to take a course in Mechanical or Civil Engineering will be admitted to the 
School on the completion of the above course. The School of Engineering will be opened in 
September, 1882. 

Explanation of the Plan. — Room A is the main shop for wood and iron 
work ; B and C are the forging shops ; i> is a storage-room ; E is used by 
the chemical department. No. 1, machine lathe, 6-foot bed ; 2, machine 
lathe, 3-foot bed; 3, wood lathe, 9-foot bed; 4, speed lathe, for centring 
and finishing, S^-foot bed; 5, four wood-turning bench lathes, 5-foot bed; 
6, machine planer, 3i-foot bed; 7, vertical drilling machine; 8, double emery- 
grinder; 9, grindstone; 10, scroll-saw; 11, small fret-saw; 12, circular saw, 
both rip and cross cutting; 13, Sturtevant blower; 16, shaft running be- 
tween engine-house and shop; the pulleys, 14 and 15, distribute the power 
from this shaft to the line-shafts of the shops (not shown), by which all 
of the above machinery is driven; the shaft, 16, is coupled directly to the 
engine shaft; 17, nine wood- working benches; 18, vises to each bench; 19, 
two ii'on-working benches; 20, eight Parker vises for iron- work; 21, in- 
structor's table; 22, table for student work; 23, closet for miscellaneous 
wood- working tools and supplies; 24, cabinet for chucks, drill-gear, etc., 
for the machines; 25, cabinet of closets for students' clothes; 26, closet for 
iron- work supplies, files, bolts, etc.; 27, sink provided with wash-basins; 
28 and 29, cabinets for lathe-tools; 30, four wrought-iron forges; 34, four 
anvils; 35, four tool-racks; 36, portable forge; 37, case for forge-work; 38, 
bench; 39, vise; 40, racks for iron and steel; 41, closet for paints and oils; 



APPENDIX. 



46 



42, bench for storing small pieces of lumber; 43, rack for stock of lumber; 
44, stairs to upper floor; 45, entrance steps. 
The Shop Instruction is divided as follows : — 

Bench-work in wood 12 weeks (120 hours). 

Wood-turning 4 weeks (40 hours). 

Pattern-making 12 weeks (120 hours). 

Vise- work in iron 10 weeks (100 hours). 

Forging in iron and steel .... 18 weeks (180 hours). 

Machine-tool work in iron .... 20 weeks (200 hours). 

The object of the shop instruction is, first, to prepare students for a 
course of mechanical engineering; and, second, as a preparation for some 
industrial pursuit. 

Method of Instruction. — We have series of unchanging principles which 
must be taught practically through the use of corresponding sets of tools ; 
and, while series of models are principally used, we vary these with each 
class in form and dimensions, always keeping in view the principles to be 
taught. Another feature is to make the models assume a form which may, 




PLAN OF THE MECHANIC ARTS SHOPS, PURDUE UNIVERSrTT. 



if possible, afterwards be utilized. The principles involved will always be 
of prime, and the utilization of secondary, consideration. 

Course in Carpentry and Joinery. — 1 , Exercise in sawing and planing 
to dimensions ; 2, application; a box nailed together; 3, mortise and tenon 
joints; a plain mortise and tenon; an open dovetailed mortise and tenon 
(dovetailed halving) ; a dovetailed keyed mortise and tenon ; stock 2" thick, 
worked to If"; mortise pieces 10" long, and tenon pieces 6" in the clear; 4, 
splices; 5, common dovetail; 6, lap-dovetailing and rabbeting; 7, blind or 
secret dovetail; 8, mitre-box; 9, carpenter's trestle; 10, panel-door; 11. 
roof-truss; 12, section of king-post truss roof; 13, drawing models. Ele- 
ments applied in simple forms in each case. 

Wood-Turning — 1, Elementary principles, 1st straight turning, 2d cut- 
ting in, 3d convex curves with the chisel, 4th compound curves formed with 
the gouge; 2, handles; 3, mallets; 4, picture-frames (chuck-work); 5, card- 
receiver (chuck-wt)rk) ; 6, match-safe (chuck-work) ; 7, ball. The articles 



46 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

present good forms for learning the art, and each of the last three a new and 
difficult feature of chucking. 

Pattern- Making. — The student is supposed now to have some skill in 
bench and lathe work, which will be increased; but the direct object is to 
teach what forms or patterns are in general necessary, and how they must 
be constructed in order to get a perfect mould from them. We have not 
thought it necessary that each student should do the same examples to 
accomplish this object. In this way the work has been much more varied: 
each student learns the particular features in the work done by his neighbor, 
and gets a much broader knowledge than could in the same time be acquired 
in any other way. Besides simple patterns easily drawn from the sand, such 
as glands, ball-cranks, etc., there followed a series of flanged pipe-joints for 
2i-" pipe, including the necessary core-boxes, in which all took part; then 
pulley patterns from 6" to 10" in diameter, built in segments for strength, 
and to prevent warping and shrinkage ; lastly, a complete set of patterns for 
a three-horse-power horizontal steam-engine, all made from drawings of the 
finished piece. 

Vise-Work in Iron. — 1. Given a block of cast iron 4" by 2" by 1^" in 
thickness, to reduce the thickness \" first by chipping, and then finish with 
the file. 2. To file a round hole square. 3. To file a round hole into an 
elliptical one. 4. Given a 3" cube of wrought iron, to cut a spline 3" by f" 
by 5-", and, 2d, when the under side is a one-half round hollow. These two 
cuts involve the use of the cape-chisel, and the round-nose chisel, and are 
examples of very difficult chipping. 5. Round filing, or hand vise-work, 
with the same examples as are given in the cut illustrating the course at the 
Institute of Technology. 6. Scraping. 7. Some special examples of fitting. 

Forging. — 1. Elementary processes, drawing, bending, upsetting. 2. A 
course in welding. 3. Miscellaneous forgings. 4. Steel-forging, including 
hardening and tempering. 

Machine- Work. — In this course we have used no set models, the work 
varying more or less with each class. But the aim is to teach centring, 
plain and taper turning, taper fitting, screw cutting, to bring in all the 
adjuncts of the machines, and to give practice in their use. All students are 
not upon the same work at the same time ; but each during his course has 
an opportunity of learning the use of all the tools and appliances. Nor is a 
given time allotted to each piece. The slow ones must work extra time to 
keep up, while those who are quick are given extra work. All students are 
required to devote all the time allotted to each shop course, and not allowed 
to pass from one to another in advance of the class, unless they are profi- 
cient and can enter a regular class in an advanced branch. 

The shop instruction is supplemented by a course of lessons on the theory 
of the hand and machine tools; more or less use being made of Shelley's 
" Workshop Appliances," Rose's " Practical Machinist," and notes found 
in the first two volumes on " Building Construction " published by Riving- 
tons. 

I regret that I cannot devote more space to Mr. Goss's inter- 
esting account of the good work he is doing at Purdue, which 
is heartily indorsed by President White. 



APPENDIX. 47 



THE MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOL 

OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, ST. LOUIS, ESTABLISHED 
JUNE 6, 1879. 

Professor C. M. Woodward, the director of this school, has 
furnished me with the following details of cost, the cuts repre- 
senting the building and floors, and the excellent statement 
hereto appended. Building cost twelve thousand dollars; tools 
and furniture, eleven thousand ; land, six thousand : total, 
twenty-nine thousand dollars. About one-third of the one 
hundred and two pupils are on free scholarships held by the 
founders. Mr. Samuel Cupples pays two hundred and fifty 
dollars per month for five years (fifteen thousand in all) for 
current expenses. This with tuition-fees will about cover 
expenses for the five years from date of foundation. 

General Statement. 

Conditions of Admission. — Candidates for admission to the first-year class 
must be at least fourteen years of age, and each must present a certificate of 
good moral character signed by a former teacher. 

They must also pass a good examination on the following subjects: — 

1. Arithmetic ; including the fundamental rules, common and decimal 
fractions, the tables of weights, measures, and their use. Candidates will 
be examined orally in mental arithmetic, including fractions and the multi- 
plication-table up to twenty. 2. Common-school geography. 3. Spelling 
and penmanship. 4. The writing of good English. 

Candidates for the second-year class must be fifteen years of age. All 
that is specified above will be required of them, and, in addition, the 
studies and shop- work of the first year. 

Similar requirements apply to those desiring to enter the third-year class. 

Course of Study. — The course of instruction covers three years, and the 
school-time of the pupils is about- equally divided between mental and 
manual exercises. Neither intellectual nor physical labor is carried to the 
extent of weariness. 

The change from recitation to the shop, and from shop to study and reci- 
tation, is agreeable and healthful, keeping both mind and body fresh and 
vigorous. 

Menial Training. — In mathematics the coui'se of instruction is thor- 
ough, but not extended. Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and plane trigo- 
nometry are studied in succession. The application of these branches is 
made in book-keeping, mechanical drawing, physics, mechanics, and mensu- 
ration. 

Careful attention is given to physical geography. 

The English language and literature is carefully studied throughout the 



48 



BOARD OF EDUCATION. 



course. Every graduate of the school will have fair command of the 
English language, whether in writing or speaking. 

History, practical ethics, and political economy each finds a place on the 
programme, the treatment of each subject being adapted to the capacity of 
the class. 

Manual Training. — Special attention is paid to drawing during the 




whole course. Drawing is the shorthand language of modern science. 
Careful drawings are to technically educated people what pictures are to 
children. They show at a glance what it is not in the power of words to 
express. It is a universal language, and should be read and understood by 
all. 

The course in drawing embraces three general divisions : — 



FIRST FLOOR. 

A Anvil, D Drill press. L Lathe, 

5 Bench. 7^ Forge. /^Planer. [Office, 

C Case. G Grindstone. S O Superintendent's 




50 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

1. Freehand Drawing, designed to educate the sense of form and propor- 
tion, to teach the eye to observe accurately, and to train the hand to rapidly 
delineate the forms either of existing objects or of ideals in the mind. 

2. Mechanical Drawing, — including the use of instruments ; geometric 
constructions ; the arrangement of projections, elevations, planes, and sec- 
tions ; also the various methods of producing shades and shadows with pen 
or brush. 

3. Technical Drawing or Draughting,- — illustrating conventional colors 
and signs ; systems of architectural or shop drawings ; and at the same time 
familiarizing the pupil with the proportions and details of various classes of 
machines and structures. 

Workshop Instruction. — In connection with drawing comes instruction in 
the nature, theory, and use of tools. 

But which are the tools whose use is to be taught ? Before answering 
this question, it is to be observed that the apparently great variety in tools 
and mechanical processes arises from different combinations of very simple 
elements. The number of hand-tools is small: one can easily count them 
on his fingers. They are the axe, the saw, \h& plane, the hammer, the square, 
the chisel, and the file. The study of a tool involves an examination of its 
form and the theory of its action, as well as its actual use at the bench or 
forge. After the hand-tools, pupils should become familiar with the typical 
machine-tools which are chiefly employed in mechanical pursuits. 

A knowledge of materials and processes is as important as an acquaint- 
ance with tools. The characteristic properties of different kinds of wood; 
the difference between cast and wrought iron; the properties of steel, brass, 
and other materials, — these are learned only by actual contact and personal 
investigation. 

Then the student should understand the relation between different kinds 
of work, their sequence and mutual dependence. 

Thus the making of patterns precedes the use of castings. The castings 
themselves are planed, bored, drilled, and turned, by the use of special 
machine-tools. Wrought iron and steel are worked at the forge previously 
to being used in the machine-shop. 

Study and Management of Steam. — The steam-generating apparatus of 
the university consists of a battery of three large steel boilers set and fur- 
nished in the most approved manner. These boilers furnish heat for the 
entire group of university buildings, as well as steam for the engine in the 
shop. The engine is of the best pattern and superior workmanship, and is 
capable of about sixty horse-power. During their second and third years 
the pupils make a careful study of the engine and furnaces, and are prac- 
tised in the management and care of them both. 

Project for Graduation. — Before receiving a diploma of the school, each 
student must execute a project satisfactory to the faculty of the school. 
The project consists of the actual construction of a machine. The finished 
machine must be accompanied by a full set of the working-drawings accord- 
ing to which the machine is made. If it is not feasible to construct the 
patterns for castings of such machine, proper directions for their construc- 
tion must accompany the drawings. 

Students have no option or election as to particular studies ; each must 
conform to the course as laid down, and take every branch in its order. 



APPENDIX. 



51 



The arrangement of studies and shop-work by years is substantially as 
follows : — 

First Year. — Arithmetic, completed; algebra, to equations; English 
language, its structure and use; history of the United States; physical 
geography; drawing, mechanical and freehand; penmanship; carpentry 
and joinery; wood-carving; wood- turning ; pattern-making. 

Second Year. — Algebra, through quadratics; geometry, plane; natural 
philosophy; English history; English composition and literature; princi- 
ples of mechanics; penmanship; drawing, line-shading and tinting ma- 
chines, freehand detail drawing; blacksmithing, drawing, upsetting, bend- 
ing, punching, welding, tempering; use of machine-tools. 

Third Year. — Geometry, solid ; plane trigonometry and mensuration ; 
English composition and literature; history; ethics and political economy; 
book-keeping; drawing, machine and architectural; study of the steam- 
engine; bench- work and fitting; work in the machine-shop, turning, drill- 
ing, planing, screw-cutting, etc. ; execution of project. 

DAILY PROGRAMME. FIRST TERM — 1881-82. 



Classes. 


Divis- 
ions. 


9-11 A.iVI. 


11 A.IVI. -1 P.M. 


1-3P.IVI. 


Second 
Year. 


A. 


Shop-work. 


40 min. 
Algebra 


40 min. I fi >> 
English! S'g 

History !o- 




40 min. 
Physics 


20 min. 
Study. 


60 min. 
Draw'g. 


B. 


60 min. 
Draw'g. 


20 min. 

Study. 


40 min. 
Algebra 


Shop-work. 


11 


It 


40 min. 
Physics 


40 min. 
English 
History 


First 
Year. 


A. 


Shop-work. 


60 min. 
Draw'g. 


20 mill. 
Recess. 


40 min. 
Gram'r. 


40 min. 
Arith. 


40 min. 
Study. 


40 min. 
Physic'l 
Geog. 


B. 


40 min. 
Gram'r. 


20 min. 

Study. 


60 min. 
Draw'g. 


Shop-work. 


■n 

sS 


u 


40 min. 
Arith. 


40 min. 
Physic'l 
Geog. 


C. 


40 min. 
Arith. 


40 min. 

Study. 


40 min. 
Physic'l 
Geog. 


40 min. 
G-ram'r. 


20 min. 


^rat^g. S^oP-work. 



Notes : 1.— Penmanship takes the place of Physical Geography and Physics once a week. 

2. — Each class has Music Lesson once a week, extending the daily session half an hour. 
.S. — Composition takes the place of Grammar and History once a week. 
4. — Spelling occupies half the study time three times a week. 

Description of the Shops and Tools. — The second floor of the building is 
devoted to woodwork, and comprises a carpenter-shop, store-room, and 
turning-shop. Each shop has uniform accommodations for classes of 
twenty pupils. Four such classes or divisions can be taught daily in each. 
Each pupil has one of the uniform sets of edge-tools for his exclusive use, 
kept in a locked drawer. For the care and safety of these tools he is held 
responsible. Other tools, such as squares, hammers, wrenches, etc., are 
provided for the use of each class in succession. 

The Carpenter- Shop. — This contains twenty benches, vises, and sets of 
tools for use in common, a power grindstone, the instructor's desk and 
bench, settees for the class, and the requisite quota of clamps, glue-pots, 
etc. A double circular-saw machine is provided for getting out stock 
(" blanks " for a class) and jobbing. 



52 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

The Turning Shop contains twenty speed lathes, twelve-inch swinj; and 
five-foot bed, with complete equipment of face-plates, chucks, etc., for eighty 
pupils. The shop contains several eight-foot benches for pattern-work, a 
power grindstone, and a moulder's bench, and tools for illustrating prac- 
tically the use and handling of patterns for foundery-work. 

The Machine- Shop . — The first floor of the building is devoted to metal- 
work, and comprises the machine and blacksmith shops. At present (De- 
cember, 1881) the machine-shop is not in use by the pupils of the Manual 
Training School. [The school has not been in operation quite a year 
and a half, and hence the students have not yet reached this shop in their 
course.] It possesses but a partial equipment, consisting of four engine- 
lathes of fourteeu-inch swing and five-foot bed; a speed lathe; a planer, 
twenty-one-inch by twenty-one-inch by five feet ; a twenty-five-inch drill, 
and a large power grindstone. Ten vises and benches, with forty drawers, 
afford opportunity for bench-work. By September, 1882, it is expected that 
this shop will be furnished for a class of twenty students at once. The 
engine occupies a part of this shop . 

The Blacksmith- Shop has its complete equipment of twenty forges, anvils, 
tubs, and sets of ordinary hand- tools. Ten sets of heavy tools suffice for 
twenty pupils, as they may work in pairs as "smith and helper." The 
blast is supplied by a fan blower, and a powerful exhaust fan keeps the shop 
completely free from smoke and gas. In connection with one of the larger 
forges is a hand-bellows, which can be used when the engine is not running. 
Every shop exercise lasts two hours : consequently the shop readily accom- 
modates eighty pupils per day. 

All the machinery of the shops is driven by a fine Corliss engine, four- 
teen-inch cjdinder and forty-two-inch stroke, running at sixty-five revolu- 
tions per minute. The engine was built specially for the school by Messrs. 
Smith, Beggs, & Rankin, of St. Louis. Steam is furnished from the uni- 
versity boilers. The building is heated by the exhaust steam from the 
engine. This equipment of steam-power will furnish to pupils of the third- 
year class the means of becoming familiar with such machinery on a scale 



The shops throughout contain ample conveniences for the shop-clothing 
of the pupils, and the basement contains facilities for washing with hot and 
cold water. 

The drawing-room and the two recitation-rooms are on the third floor. 

All the shops and other rooms are spacious, and amply lighted, well 
warmed and ventilated. The location of the building, on the south-west 
corner of Eighteenth Street and Washington Avenue, is one of the best in 
the city, being high and healthful. 

The Theory of Shop -Work. — The application of the educational idea to 
mechanic arts is strictly analogous to its application to chemistry and phys- 
ics. In each, the use of apparatus and the treatment of material is taught 
by systematic experiments in suitable laboratories. In each, every thing is 
arranged for the purpose of giving instruction in the principles involved, 
and for acquiring skill in manipulation, and not for the sake of the pro- 
duction of salable compounds of either drugs or apparatus. 

Chemical laboratories might be manufactories, and mixtures might be 



APPENDIX. 63 

made for sale, but the efficiency of such a laboratory for the purpose of edu- 
cation would be very small. So a manufacturing establishment can be made 
a place for instruction in the use of tools, but its cost would be great in 
proportion to its capacity, and the variety of work would be limited by its 
business. 

Special Trades are not taught. — The scope of a single trade is too nar- 
row for educational purposes. Manual education should be as broad and 
liberal as intellectual. A shop which manufactures for the market, and 
expects a revenue from the sale of its products, is necessarily confined to 
salable work ; and a systematic and progressive series of lessons is impos- 
sible, except at great cost. If the object of the shop is education, a student 
should be allowed to discontinue any task or process the moment he has. 
learned to do it well. If the shop were intended to make money, the stu- 
dents would be kept at work on what they could do best, at the expense of 
breadth and versatility. 

It is claimed that students take more interest in working upon something 
which, when finished, has intrinsic value, than they do in abstract exercises. 
This is quite possible, and proper use should be made of this fact; but, if all 
education were limited to such practical examples, our schools would be 
useless. The idea of a school is that pupils are to be graded and taught in 
classes; the result aimed at being not at all the objective product or fin- 
ished work, but the intellectual and physical growth which comes from the 
exercise. Of what use is the elaborate solution in algebra, the minute draw- 
ing, or the faithful translation, after it is well done? Uo we not erase the 
one, and burn the other, with the clear conviction that the only thing of 
value was the discipline, and that that is indestructible? 

So in manual education, the desired end is the acquirement of skill in the 
use of tools and materials, and not the production of specific articles: thence 
we abstract all the mechanical processes and manual arts and typical tools of 
the trades and occupations of men, arrange a systematic course of instruc- 
tion in the same, and then incorporate it into our system of education. 
Thus, without teaching any one ti-ade, we teach the essential mechanical 
principles of all. 

In accordance with the foregoing principles, the shop training is gained 
by regular and carefully graded lessons designed to cover as much ground as 
possible, and to teach thoroughly the uses of ordinary tools. This does not 
imply the attainment of sufficient skill to produce either the fine work or the 
rapidity of a skilled mechanic; this is left to after-years. But a knowledge 
of how a tool or machine should be used is easily and thoroughly taught. 
The mechanical products or results of such lessons have little or no value 
when completed, and hence the shops do not attempt to manufacture for the 
market. 

As has been said, work of immediate utility is of greater interest to stu- 
dents than abstract lessons. Such work has an undoubted value, and is in 
many ways desirable, provided it does not hinder or interfere with regular 
instruction. Opportunities for such constructive work are constantly occur- 
ring. The wants of a large institution are many, and when they can be sup- 
plied by student skill it is a benc-" ' to all concerned. In this way, outside 
the stated hours, pupils have the means of applying their knowledge and of 



54 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

gaining additional practice. The yearly aggregate of such productions is 
quite large, and it affords undeniable evidence of the efficiency of systematic 
instruction. 

Details of Shop Instruction. — The shop instruction is given similarly to 
laboratory lectures. The instructor at the bench, machine, forge, or anvil, 
executes in the presence of the whole class the day's lesson, giving all 
needed instructions, and at times using the blackboard. When necessary, 
the pupils make notes and sketches, and questions are asked and answered, 
that all obscurities may be removed. The class then proceeds to the execu- 
tion of the task, leaving the instructor to give additional help to such as 
need it. At a specified time that lesson ceases, the work is brought in, 
commented on, and marked. It is not necessary that all the work assigned 
should be finished: the essential thing is, that it should be well begun and 
carried on with reasonable speed and accuracy. 

It is almost useless to say that the personal characteristics of pupils are 
even more marked in this work than in any ordinary recitation, from the 
fact that no text-books are used, nor is there previous study. The length 
of time required by different pupils in a large class for the doing of a speci- 
fied piece of work varies considerably. Hence additional lessons or con- 
structive work are arranged for the brighter and quicker members. 

Work in the blacksmith-shop is in one essential feature different from 
any other kind. Wood or cold iron will wait any desired length of time 
while the pupil considers how he shall work, but here comes in temperature 
subject to continual change. The injunction is imperative to " strike while 
the iron is hot," and hence quick work is demanded, — a hard thing for 
new hands. To obviate this difficulty, bars of lead are used, with which the 
lesson is first executed, while all the particulars of holding and striking are 
studied. The lead acts under the hammer very nearly like hot iron, and 
will permit of every operation of the blacksmith's shop except welding. 
Much is anticipated from its use as a preparation for the working of iron, 
as each lesson is first executed in lead. 

One of the most difficult lessons in the art of the smith is that of man- 
aging the fire. The various kinds of heat are explained and illustrated, 
and habits of economy of both iron and fuel are inculcated. 

How the Use of Tools is taught. — Frequent requests have been made for 
detailed descriptions or drawings of the models actually used in the several 
shops. Such requests have generally been refused, for several good reasons. 
In the first place, the main object of one or more lessons is to gain con- 
trol and mastery of the tool in hand, and not the production of a particular 
model. The use of the tool may be well taught by a large variety of exer- 
cises, just as a knowledge of bank discount may be gained from the use of 
several different examples. No special merit can be claimed for a particular 
example; neither can a particular model, or series of models, have any great 
value. No good teacher is likely to use precisely the same set twice. 

Again, the method of doing a piece of work, and not the finished piece, 
may be the object of a lesson. To illustrate: Directions are given to a class 
in carpentry to saw a piece of wood, holding it upon the bench-dog. A 
pupil is found attempting jO do the work, holding it on a trestle. On being 
corrected, he insists that he can't do it so well in that way. The teacher 



I 



APPENDIX. 56 

replies, or should reply, " Then that is the way you should do it, until you 
can do it well." Now, the exercises by which certain methods of using tools 
are to be taught often depend upon varying circumstances, such as the qual- 
ity of the material, the age of pupils, and the pupils' knowledge of working- 
drawings. Instead of giving particular descriptions of exercises, we prefer 
to state the general methods by which the use of the various tools is taught. 

The tools are not given out all at once: they are issued as they are 
needed, and to all the members of the class alike. 

In carpenter- work the tools used are, the crosscut, tenon, and rip saws; 
steel square, try-square, bevel and gauge, hammer, mallet, knife, rule and 
dividers, oil-stones and slips; and, of edge-tools, the jack and smoothing 
planes, the chisel, and gouges. Braces and bits, jointer planes, compass 
saws, hatchets, and other tools are kept in the shop tool-closet, to be used 



The saw and the plane, with the square and gauge, are the foundation 
tools; and to drill the pupils in their use numerous lessons are given, varied 
only enough to avoid monotony. The pupil being able to plane a piece 
fairly well, and to keep to the line in sawing, the next step is to teach him 
to add the use of the chisel in producing simple joints of various kinds. 
The particular shapes are given with the intent to familiarize the pupil with 
the customary styles and methods of construction. 

The different sizes of the same tool (chisels, for instance) require different 
care, and methods of handling; and the means of overcoming irregularities 
and defects in material form another chapter in the instruction to be given. 

With the introduction of each tool, the pupils are taught how to keep the 
same in order. They are taught that sharp tools are absolutely necessary 
to good work: to make them realize this, is a most difficult task. 

Turning. — In a general way much that has already been stated applies to 
wood-turning. Five or six tools only are used, and from previous experi- 
ence the pupils know how to keep them in order. At first a large gouge 
only is issued, and the pupils are taught and drilled in its use in roughing 
out and producing right-line figures; then convex and concave surfaces; 
then in work comprising all these, — all in wood-turning with the grain. A 
wide chisel follows, and its use in conjunction with the gouge is taught. 
After this, a smaller gouge, chisel, and parting-tool, and a round-point are 
given, and a varietv of shapes are executed. ISText comes turning across 
uue gram; tJien bored and hollow work. Next, chucking, and the various 
ways of manipulating wood on face-plates, chucks, mandrels, etc. Finally, 
turning of fancy woods, polishing, jointing, and pattern work. 

Of the course in iron -work nothing must as yet be said, for the reason 
that we desire to speak only of work gone over, and that department is not 
yet fully developed. 

The Origin and Purpose of the School. — The Manual Training School 
owes its existence to the conviction on the part of its founders that the inter- 
ests of St. Louis demand for young men a system of education which shall 
tit them for the actual duties of life in a more direct and positive manner 
than is done in the ordinary American school. 

We see in the future an increasing demand for thoroughly trained men 
to take positions in manufacturing establishments as superintendents, as 



66 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

foremen, and as skilled workmen. The youth of to-day are to be the men 
of the next generation. It is important that we keep their probable life- 
work in view in providing for their education. Excellent as are our estab- 
lished schools, both public and private, it must be admitted that they still 
leave something to be desired; they do not, and probably they cannot, cover 
the whole ground. 

It is believed that to all students, without regard to plans for the future, 
the value of the training which can be got in shop- work, spending only from 
four to twelve hours per week, is abundantly sufficient to justify the expense 
of materials, tools, and expert teachers. 

It is very well understood that many students cannot wisely undertake the 
full course of intellectual study now laid down for the regular classes of a col- 
lege or polytechnic school. It occasionally happens that students, who have 
special aptitudes in certain directions, find great difficulty in mastering sub- 
jects in other directions. In such cases it is often the best course to yield to 
natural tastes, and to assist the student in finding his proper sphere of work 
and study. A decided aptitude for handicraft is not uufrequently coupled 
with a strong aversion to and unfitness for abstract and theoretical investi- 
gations. There can be no doubt, that, in such cases, more time should be 
spent in the shop, and less in the lecture and recitation room. 

One great object of the school is to foster a higher appreciation of the 
value and dignity of intelligent labor, and the worth and respectability of 
laboring men. A boy who sees nothing in manual labor but mere brute 
force despises both the labor and laborer. With the acquisition of skill in 
himself, comes the ability and willingness to recognize skill in his fellows. 
When once he appreciates skill in handicraft, he regards the workman with 
sympathy and respect. 

In a manual training school, tool-work never descends into drudgery. 
The tasks are not long, nor are they unnecessarily repeated. In this school, 
whatever may be the social standing or importance of the fathers, the sons 
go together to the same work, and are tested physically as well as intellect- 
ually by the same standards. The result in the past has been, and in the 
future it will continue to be, a truer estimate of laboring and manufacturing 
people, and a sounder judgment on all social problems. 

The Kesults of Experience. 

The managers of the school are abundantly confirmed in their views, as 
set forth in the prospectus two years ago, by the experience of the school 
during its first year and a half. 

From the first the school has been weU patronized, and vacant seats have- 
been few. At times every seat has been filled. The school was opened with 
sixty seats, all for a single class. 

The entire humber of students enrolled during the first year was sixty- 
four. The number of seats was increased to one hundred during the last 
summer. The number of students enrolled thus far this year is one hun- 
dred and two, of whom forty-two were members of the school last year. 

The zeal and enthusiasm of the students has been developed to a most 
gratifying extent, extending into all the departments of work. The variety 
atfforded by the daily programme has had the moral and intellectual effect 



APPENDIX. 57 

expected, and an unusual degree of sober earnestness has been shown. Suc- 
cess in drawing or shop-work has often had the effect of arousing the ambi- 
tion in mathematics and history, and vice versa. 

Progi-ess in the two subjects, drawing and shop-work (and we had little 
previous knowledge of what could be done with boys as young as those of 
the first-year class), has been quite remarkable. To be sure, there was no 
doubt of the final result; but the progress has been more rapid than it 
seemed reasonable to expect. The second-year class contains already several 
excellent draughtsmen, and not a few pattern-makers of accuracy and skill. 
The habit of working from drawings and to nice measurements has given 
the students a confidence in themselves altogether new. This is shown in 
the readiness with which they undertake the execution of small commissions 
in behalf of the school, or for the students of other dej)artments. In fact, 
the increased usefulness of our students is making itself felt at home, and 
in several instances the result has been the offer of business positions too 
tempting to be rejected. This drawback, if it can be called one, the school 
must always suffer. The better educated and trained our students become, 
the stronger will be the temptations offered to them outside, and the more 
difficult it will be for us to hold them through the course. Parents and 
guardians should avoid the bad policy of injuring the prospects of a promis- 
ing son or ward, by grasping a small present pecuniary advantage, at the 
cost of far greater rewards in the future. 

Success of the Russian Plan. — In another important respect our expecta- 
tions have been more than realized; namely, in our ability to introduce class 
methods in giving instruction in the theory and use of tools. AU divisions 
in the shops have thus far been limited to twenty pupils; and, as a rule, all 
members of a division have just the same work. 

The exercises have been two hours long, though often the students have 
asked for longer work. It is but due to the pupils of the school to say that 
they have uniformly seconded all efforts looking towards good order and 
good manners. No little surprise has been expressed by visitors, at seeing 
how quietly and independently twenty boys can work for a couple of hours 
in the same room. Though all classes handle keen-edged tools, no serious 
accident has happened, and very rarely have small injm-ies been received. 



There are three schools in France which I had the pleasure 
of visiting in 1878, which will prove instructive. — First, 

THE ECOLE COMMUNALE, 

RUE TOURNEFORT, PARIS. 

This is an elementary school containing between two and 
three hundred pupils ranging in age from eight or nine to four- 
teen or fifteen years of age. The prescribed course is three 
years ; and, besides the studies suitable to the age of such 



58 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

pupils, three points will attract our attention : first, the free- 
hand drawing, which is excellent, showing the best of teaching ; 
second, modelling in clay, and duplicating the best specimens 
in plaster ; and, third, shop-work in wood and the metals, taken 
by about fifty of the older pupils. The modelling would have 
been considered remarkable, for a much older class of pupils ; 
and I saw nothing to compare with it, either in design or exe- 
cution, outside of the special art schools. The facilities for shop 
instruction in the working of wood and metals were less com- 
plete, the shops being fitted to teach but few at a time. The 
mechanic art method is strictly followed, the samples used being 
those presumably best adapted to teach principles and processes, 
and having no marketable value, on the ground that articles 
made for sale cannot be so well adapted for systematic and 
progressive instruction. All commercial considerations are, on 
principle, scrupulously avoided. For two years the pupil has 
practice in the different shops ; but in the third his shop 
instruction is confined to some specialty. I was both delighted 
and instructed by ray visit ; and left recognizing in M. Laubier, 
the genial head of the school, a man whose ample knowledge 
was quickened by a genuine enthusiasm and love of his work. 



THE ECOLE MUNICIPALE D'APPRENTIS, 

BOULEVARD DE LA VILLETTE, PARIS. 

This is one of the best examples of a trade-school modified 
by the mechanic art idea. The course of instruction is three 
years. In January, 1873, it had seventeen pupils, and now 
numbers over two hundred. The principal feature of the 
school is its large and well-appointed machine-shops, arranged 
for manufacturing purposes. The aim of the school is to turn 
out good workmen. During the first year the student works, 
two weeks at a time, in the various shops, after which he 
devotes himself to a particular specialty; that is, he learns the 
trade of a machinist, a carpenter, a joiner, a pattern-maker, a 
founder, or a blacksmith, in much the same way that an ap- 
prentice in any well-appointed establishment would learn the 
same specialty. As there are only three foremen, it is obvious 
that the amount of instruction given to each student must be 
very small. 



APPENDIX. 



59 



The time, from seven a.m. to half-past two p.m., is divided as 
follows : from seven to eight, study ; from eight to eleven, shop- 
work ; from eleven to twelve, breakfast, recreation, and gym- 
nastics ; from twelve to half-past twelve, shop-work ; from half- 
past two to three, recess and lunch. 





Scheme of Study 


and Work from 3 to 7 P.M. 




Day. 


rear. 


3 to 4. 


4 to 5. 


5 to 6. 


6 to 7. 


MONDAY. 


1st. 


Study. 


Geometry. 


French. 


Geometry. 




2d. 


Geometry. 


Study. 


Geometry. 


English. 




3d. 


Workshop. 


Workshop. 


Drawing. 


Law. 


TUESDAY. 


1st. 


Drawing. 


Drawing. 


Study. 


English. 




2d. 


Study of Tools. 


Study. 


Algebra. 


Hist, and Geog. 




3d. 


Workshop. 


Workshop. 


Mechanics. 


( Descriptive 
I Geometry. 


WEDNESDAY 


1st. 


History. 


Chemistry. 


French. 


Geometry. 




2d. 


Drawing. 


Drawing. 


Geometry. 


Physics. ■ 




3d. 


Workshop. 


Workshop. 


Drawing. 


Sketching. 


THURSDAY. 


1st. 


Reading. 


Geography. 


Arithmetic. 


English. 




2d. 


French. 


Chemistry. 


Enghsh. 


Arithmetic. 




3d. 


Workshop. 


Workshop. 


(Physics and ( 
\ Chemistry, j 


Technology. 


FRIDAY. 


1st. 


Drawing. 


Drawing. 


French. 


Geometry. 




2d. 


Mechanics. 


Book-keeping. 


Geometry. 


Study. 




3d. 


Workshop. 


Workshop. 


Mechanics. 


Sketching, 


SATURDAY. 


1st. 


Study of Tools. 


Arithmetic. 


Physics. 


Study. 




2d. 


Drawing. 


Drawing. 


French. 


Study. 




8d. 


Workshop. 


Workshop. 


Drawing. 


( Sketching and 
/ Drawing. 



It will be seen from the above that for the first two years the 
mornings are devoted to shop-work, and the afternoons to other 
studies ; that for the third year the shop-work continues till 
five P.M., and the time from five to seven is devoted to other 
subjects. The amount of shop-work accords with the aim of 
the school to make good workmen. 



THE ECOLE D'APPRENTIS 

AT CHALONS-SUR-MARNE, FRANCE. 

This old and famous school well deserves its high reputation, 
as one of the best appointed and thorough trade-schools in 



60 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

Europe. It is literally a school in a large manufacturing estab- 
lishment, where manual skill and technical knowledge of some 
special trade is the main object, but supplemented by drawing 
and such other studies as a skilled mechanic needs. Its aim is 
to make foremen, constructors, and directors of works, rather 
than engineers or ordinary workmen. The apprentice-school on 
Boulevard de la Villette, Paris, is an almost exact model of that 
at Chalons, but not of so high a grade. The Chalons scheme 
of studies and shop-work is so similar, that a more detailed 
statement is unnecessary. Its students are older ; the shops 
have a larger number of foremen to direct the work of the stu- 
dents, and a more complete equipment. In its shop instruction 
it has in later years conformed more nearly to mechanic art 
methods, particularly in the earlier part of the course. 



THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL AND FORESTRY 
ACADEMY 

AT HOHENHEIM, WURTTEMBERG, GERMANY. 

Hohenheim was once a ducal summer palace. It is two hours 
by post from Stuttgart, about thirteen hundred feet above the 
sea, and nearly five hundred feet above the valley of Stuttgart. 
The old palace, with its turrets and pinnacles, its courts and 
quadrangles, and its once white walls, now gray and hoary with 
age, all in strong contrast with the emerald green of early 
spring which surrounded it at the time of my visit, made a 
picture not soon to fade from the memory. The little hamlet 
of Hohenheim contained, in 1875, including students, about 
three hundred inhabitants and thirty families. The palace con- 
tains a hundred and twenty rooms for students, besides ample 
space for all the purposes of the school. 

The general studies include the elementary mathematics, with 
trigonometry and descriptive geometry, physics and chemistry, 
and the natural sciences which apply in farming, fruit and 
forest culture, and the raising and training domestic animals. 
The practical studies include the history and literature of 
farming, farm productions in general, with special practical in- 
struction relating to the culture of hops, grapes, fruits, and 
vegetables, the breeding, rearing, diseases, and uses of domestic 
animals, the production of wool and silk, and bee-culture, farm 



I 



APPENDIX. 61 

management, with practice in the drawing of plans and specifi- 
cations for such management, and farm book-keeping : farming 
technology taught through practice. There is a corresponding 
practical course for forestry. The farm contains 971 f German 
acres, or about 780 of ours, devoted as follows : arable land, 
about 613 acres; meadows, 161; hop-garden, 4; practice-field, 
28 ; farm-practice station with practice-fields, 6 ; practice-garden 
for forestry, 1 ; rented pieces of ground, 14 ; exercise-field, 2 ; 
fruit-tree culture-ground, 17 ; vegetable garden, 6 ; botanic gar- 
den, 15 ; mulberry plantation, § ; vineyard, f ; constant pasture, 
22 ; roads, fish-pond, and commons, 51 ; wild forest-tree planta- 
tion, 13 ; yards and building-space, 17 ; and cemetery, i of an 
acre. There are, besides, about fifty-five hundred acres of 
hunting-forest in Hohenheim, in charge of the professor of 
forestry, which are available to the students of this department. 
The collections include models of farm machines and tools, 
mostly natural size, forest productions and forest technology, 
the cabinets of mineralogy, botany, zoology, and physics, the 
veterinary arts and horse-shoeing, wools, soils, and composts ; 
the library of ten thousand volumes ; the workshops for brandy 
distillation, for beer brewing, for beet-sugar manufacture, with 
conveniences for the preparation of starch, mustard, and vine- 
gar. There is also a station for testing seeds, a meteorological 
station, and a silk-reeling station. There is also a manufactory 
of farm machinery and tools, employing from thirty to thirty- 
six men, two or three of whom devote themselves to making 
models. 

This is a strictly special and practical professional school, and 
all the theoretical and applied instruction is so given as to 
educate the student toward and for his profession, and not 
away from it. While educating the student to a love of na- 
ture may not be one of the special aims of the school, it is 
diflScult to conceive that a young man can spend two or three 
of his most susceptible years in such charming relations to 
nature, and not become her admirer and devoted servant for 
life. But the love of nature is strong in the German character ; 
and many more young Germans than Americans, under the 
same circumstances, would voluntarily choose a profession the 
practice of which would be a constant source of gratification 
and pleasure. 

There is also in Hohenheim, under the direction and super- 
vision of the Bureau of Agriculture, a 



62 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

Farm School, 

the aim of which is to fit young men, especially peasants, by 
means of suitable practical teaching and practice in the fields 
connected with the school, to cultivate in a superior manner their 
own ground, as well as to train good land-tenants and overseers. 
The head master or principal of the school, besides the general 
direction, must give the theoretical instruction, except the doc- 
toring of animals. He must be able to give instruction in the 
simplest operations of land-measuring. In field-work the pupils 
are in charge of an inspector or field-master, who carefully 
instructs them in the current farm-work of the season. The 
master having charge of all the farm tools and implements 
teaches the pupils how to use the horses and cattle devoted to 
farm-work, with their feeding and care. Forgetfulness, want 
of care, or cruel treatment of the animals must be brought to 
the attention of the board of directors. The school is fitted for 
twenty-five pupils, the course of instruction being three years. 
In the summer a few special pupils are admitted, who wish to 
practise some special branch. These must pay three florins per 
month for board and instruction. The regular students pay for 
board and instruction by their labor. They must furnish their 
own clothing, and pay for washing. 

Conditions of Admission. — Pupils enter the school in Octo- 
ber. Each applicant must be over seventeen years of age, and 
must bring a certificate from parent or guardian, or his baptis- 
mal certificate, and agree to remain three years and do the 
required work. He must be perfectly well and strong, so as to 
bear the fatigue of the necessary work, be able to read, write, 
and cipher, and must possess some knowledge of the use of 
agricultural tools. 

The Instruction. — The head master gives four lessons per 
week, except during some periods of pressing work. Besides, 
in winter and on rainy days after supper, pupils must work out 
examples, or occupy themselves with other profitable study. 
But the work is so arranged that the course of in-door instruc- 
tion can be completed in the three years. The hours of work, 
including instruction and the time devoted to the care of the 
working cattle, are ten hours per day in spring, summer, and 
autumn, and seven to eight hours per day in winter. In the 
summer, during harvest time, if work is pressing, one to two 



t 



' 



APPENDIX. 63 

hours per day are added. Besides board and tuition, the school 
furnishes the pupil with a warm room, which he uses as a 
dining and study room, a bedroom, and a sick-room when ill, 
and also the ordinary drink, light, books, bed, sheets, towels, 
etc. For poor pupils the Bureau of Agriculture also provides 
clothing out of a small fund for this purpose. 

The studies are divided into six sections, one for each half- 
year of the course. In this way pupils may enter at the begin- 
ning of any section, and complete the course in the following 
three years. 

Principal Studies. — 1. Climate, with geography ; soils, with 
references to origin, to chemistrj^, and physics ; manuring. 2. 
General plant-cultivation, with references to botany ; working 
the soil, and the use of the implements ; seeds and their care ; 
the harvest; elementary principles in succession of crops. 3. 
Special cultivation of plants ; meadows ; fruit-trees ; grapes ; 
the products of ploughed land in particular. 4. General breed- 
ing of animals, with reference to zoology, and the required 
food; special, — cattle, horses, swine, bees. 5. Breeding of 
sheep ; the farming profession ; the improvement of the prod- 
ucts from whey, flax, wine, and fruit manufactures. 6. Upon 
the fitting up and carrying on small farms, and better methods 
of cultivation ; computations relating to income and expenses ; 
farm buildings and land management. 

Auxiliary Studies. — 1. German language (only in the winter 
half-year) ; (a) for the first class, exercises in easy subjects, as 
receipts, keeping of accounts, bills of lading, bills of exchange, 
etc. ; (6) for the second class, keeping of accounts, contracts, 
etc. ; (c) for the third class, compositions on agricultural sub- 
jects, oral statements, etc. 2. Arithmetic: (a) for the first 
class (both summer and winter half-year), the four rules in 
whole numbers and fractions ; decimals ; proportion ; square 
root ; mental exercises ; (6) for the second class, profit and 
loss, interest, cube root, etc. ; (c) for the third class, reduction, 
arithmetical progression. 3. Geometry : (a) first class, explana- 
tion of the elements, lines, angles, plane figures, circles, the three 
dimensions of objects, drawing, in summer, land-measuring ; (5) 
for the second class (winter half-year), the more difficult propo- 
sitions, surface computation, machine-drawing, in summer level- 
ing and land-measuring ; (c) for the third class (in winter half), 
computation of cubic contents, plan-drawing ; in summer, prac- 



64 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

tice in measuring solids and surfaces, freehand drawing. The 
instruction in animal doctoring is given in the three winter half- 
years, and divided as follows : 1. Internal and external diseases, 
with particular reference to the epidemic diseases, and means of 
prevention. 2. Medicines, simple operations, as bleeding, etc. 
3. Exterior diseases, shoeing, principal wants, etc. 

The lectures upon general physics are also divided in the 
winter half-years into the three following parts : 1. Simple 
rules of mechanics : 2. Heat, light, and explanations of the 
relating phenomena ; 3. Electricity, with corresponding expla- 
nations. 

Practical Studies. 

I. Field-Worh. — (a) Double teams. Pupils of the first and 
second years are taught to work with oxen, and the second and 
third year with horses. Pupils in their last half-year have 
charge of certain portions of the work. Common ploughing, 
harrowing, rolling, etc., are practised to such an extent during 
the three years, that the pupil can answer any demands made 
upon him. Practice in the use of the cultivator, drill-machine, 
and other implements not given in the first year, is had in the 
second and third, under the special instruction of the farm over- 
seer. (5) Hand-work, manuring. This occupies the pupils 
when not busy with the teams, and includes loading and spread- 
ing it, especially upon the potato-fields. (55) The sowing of 
gypsum by pupils of the first year ; (cc) the sowing of different 
seeds, special study of the soil in connection therewith, in the 
second year. In the third year the pupils do the sowing them- 
selves, (dd') Harvesting (reaping, mowing, binding, etc.) is 
done by the students and such day-laborers as are needed, (ee) 
The second and third year pupils are taught the rotting of flax 
and hemp. 

II. Work on Meadow-Land. — (a) laying out of ditches ; (5) 
irrigation ; (c) work on drainage, the laying out of sewers and 
drains ; (cT) facing the water-banks ; (e) work at hay and har- 
vesting. In all this work the pupils take part, those of the 
third year usually acting as overseers. 

III. Fruit-Tree Culture is taught by lectures and inspection, 
but the work is done by the pupils of the gardening and pomo- 
logical school. 

IV. Work in the Hop-Garden is done by the pupils of the first 
and second year, mainly under the direction of those of the 
third. 



APPENDIX. 65 

V. Barn - Work. — The threshing and cleaning of the various 
grains is done by the pupils when there is no other work on 
hand. 

VI. Working the Soil in Orchards is given to the pupils in 
turn. The third-year pupils have practice in measuring and 
boxing fruits. 

VII. Work with Cattle. — (a) Feeding oxen in summer, in 
winter ; (5) milking cows ; (c) care and rearing of calves ; (d) 
care of fattening cattle. The pupils of the first and second 
year do the work a h c vn. turn. The weighing of fattened 
cattle is done by the older students. 

(e) The opportunity is given the pupils to become acquainted 
with the care of bees. 

VIII. Manufacture of Agricultural Tools. — Pupils who are 
qualified, and desire it, can spend some time in winter in the 
manufactory in Hohenheim. 

IX. Various Work. — In general, the work of greasing the 
wagons, and making small repairs, is done by the upper ser- 
vants ; but the pupils must also learn from time to time how to 
do this work. The third-year pupils have charge of the har- 
ness-room, under the general oversight of the overseer. Pupils 
are also taught how to make straw-rope. 

I have given full details in regard to this school, because 1 
think that there are classes in our own country to be educated, 
to which such a school is particularly adapted. If I do not 
mistake, those interested in the Indian problem will find this 
example of especial value. 

With one more example which interested me very much, and 
which may some time find an application in our own country, I 
close the list. 



THE POMOLOGICAL AND HORTICULTURAL 
SCHOOL 

IN REUTLINGEN, WURTTEMBERG. 

This school was founded in 1860 by Dr. Edward Lucas, for- 
merly Royal Garden Inspector and Director of the Horticul- 
tural School in Hohenheim. Up to 1880 it had educated over 
one thousand pupils, many of whom occupy important positions, 
and are materially aiding in elevating the science and practice 



BOARD OF EDUCATION. 



of pomology and horticulture in Germany. The sole aim of 
the school is to advance these sciences, and educate specialists. 
The buildings, besides apartments for four families, accommo- 
date forty-five pupils. 

The school-grounds comprise, in all, sixteen hectares, — nine 
in Reutlingen, and seven in Unter-Lennigen, — where there is 
a branch department of lower grade for poorer pupils, who 
study, mainly, hop, grapevine, and meadow culture. It will not 
be necessary to go into any detail in regard to studies, or divis- 
ion of time between theory and practice. It will be suffcient 
to note that the hours for instruction are in summer from five to 
seven^ and in winter from six to eight, mornings, from eleven to 
twelve, noon, and from six to seven, evenings ; the remainder of 
the time being devoted to out-dooi practice. The younger 




THE POMOLO&ICAL AND HORTICUI.TUR \L SCHOOL IN RrUTLINGFN, (,FKMAN\ 

students, who are studying horticulture, usually work one hour 
per day more than students in the higher departments. In the 
three-years course in fruit and garden culture, the entire cost 
to each student is five hundred and thirty marks for the first 
year, four hundred and ten for the second, and three hundred 
for the third ; in the second and third years an allowance being 
made for labor. In the higher three-years course in pomology 
and garden construction, the entire cost for the first year is 
six hundred marks; in the second, five hundred; and in the 
third, four hundred; allowance being made for labor as above. 

This is a school of higher grade than the farm-school in 
Hohenheim, but so similar in all the details of management, 
that any further description is unnecessary. 



APPENDIX. ^ 67 

The decay of the system of apprenticeship has raised the 
question how skilled labor is to be provided in the future. This 
question is now agitating all countries having any industries to 
foster or extend. In our own country the more extended and 
varied use of machinery has caused the more rapid decay of the 
system, and if we except, perhaps, England, no country stands 
to-day in such urgent need of a remedy or substitute. In the 
early days in our own country, when our system of public 
education was still in its infancy, mental and manual education 
were much more intimately connected than at the present day. 
The industries of the country were still in a crude state ; 
agriculture and a few only of the more necessary mechanic 
trades having any existence. These trades demanded but little 
artistic taste, and not the highest manual skill. The master 
became responsible, in an important sense, for the mental and 
moral well-being of the apprentice, besides teaching him the 
manual of his trade, with such knowledge of the theory and 
such experience as he was able to impart. By his attendance, 
for three or four months of each year during his apprenticeship, 
upon the district school, the mental culture of the apprentice 
was not entirely discontinued ; and thus, by alternating between 
the school and the shop, his mental and manual education were 
never entirely divorced, but each in an important sense aided 
the other. 

As time passed, a more marked separation between mental 
and manual education began to take place. The schools gradu- 
ally improved. Better methods of teaching and a larger num- 
ber of subjects were introduced, and a higher standard set, all 
demanding more time from the pupil. But quite as marked a 
change was going on in the industries. Increased demand led 
to competition, to the invention of special tools to cheapen pro- 
duction, to a greater subdivision of labor, and to the concen- 
tration of the individual upon a very narrow range of work. 
Thus the apprenticeship system for learning a trade in its old 
and best form has passed away, never to return. As it exists 
to-day it is an advantage to neither party. The apprentice can 
only learn a narrow specialty, so narrow, as a rule, that its only 
value to him is the meagre pittance which he can earn from day 
to day, but at the sacrifice of any further educational advan- 
tages ; while the master finds it for his interest to pay for the 
gkill he needs, rather than put into his carefully adjusted chain 



68 • BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

of operations a weak and nearly useless link. In this way the 
school and the shop have become so widely separated, that they 
are no longer mutual helps, as in past times, in developing the 
highest capacity or the highest manhood. The student who 
enters the shop at fifteen for a three or four years' apprentice- 
ship seldom returns to the school ; and, on the other hand, the 
student who completes his high-school course at eighteen sel- 
dom willingly enters the shop as an apprentice, with the inten- 
tion of becoming a skilled mechanic, and earning a livelihood 
by manual labor. His twelve or fourteen years of mental 
school-work, whether highly successful or not, have, through 
habit, if in no other way, unfitted him for all manual work, 
even if he has not in many ways been taught to despise such 
labor. 

In England, says Professor Silvanus P. Thompson, in " Con- 
temporary Review " for September, 1880, — 

"Time was when, for the most part, the skilled artisan who was the 
master of his trade worked at home in his own house, assisted, it might be, 
by a few younger workmen or journeymen. Into his house and family he 
would receive one or two young lads to learn, during a seven-years' engage- 
ment, the art and mystery of his craft; the master himself working and 
teaching them his work, feeding and clothing them, and receiving from them 
in return the value of the services which, as they became more apt in their 
work, they were able to render. The advantages of thorough training by 
the continuous care of the master were unquestionably proven by the 
universal adoption of the system. The ancient guilds grew and acquired 
their legal status upon this usage as their very foundation, and a seven-years' 
apprenticeship formed the one necessary qualification for the possession of 
the right to exercise the following of any occupation or employment, art or 
craft, recognized among the handicrafts of the time. With the extension of 
trade and the wider use of machinery the number and power of the adult 
employed workmen increased, and with their increase of power came a 
jealousy, on the one hand, toward the masters; and, on the other, toward the 
apprentices, who were regarded as cheapening labor when employed in too 
great numbers. The conflict which arose between employer and employed 
gradually merged into one between capital and labor. By dint of strikes 
the workmen at last prevailed, and, in attempting to bring about a lirnitation 
in the amount of apprenticeship labor, brought about a result of quite 
another kind, and one far more disastrous than the evil sought to be 
remedied, — the destruction of all the best and most important features of 
apprenticeship. " 

On the Continent the same changes, though less rapidly, are 
taking place. There is less concentration, and the various 
trades are still largely in the hands of individuals and families, 



APPENDIX. 69 

and handed down to sons or others to whom they have been 
taught through the old system of apprenticeship. In Germany 
the young mechanic, in many instances, still finishes his educa- 
tion by two or three years of journeymanship, which enables 
him to gain further knowledge and experience in his trade, and 
see something of the world before settling down to his life's 
work. But the change is gradually taking place in all coun- 
tries, and all are preparing to meet it through some form of 
education. England, as is well known, has, during the past 
twenty-five years, by the introduction of a general system of 
elementary education, including drawing, and through special 
technical schools and museums, revolutionized many of her 
industries, particularly those involving artistic taste in design as 
well as excellence in manufacture. 

But in practical education in the mechanic arts, so far as 
I am aware, nothing has been done in England. In this direc- 
tion France has long taken the lead, and has in the last few 
years awakened anew to the importance of the subject. TJie 
introduction of the mechanic art method of teaching, and the 
influence which this method is having in modifying the details 
of instruction in the various trade-schools, constitutes a new 
era in technical education in France. 

It is well understood that Germany still produces skilled 
mechanics, especially wood and metal workers, many of whom 
find their way to England and this country. But this is not 
due to the introduction of any system of manual education in 
this direction. When the older polytechnic schools, such as 
those at Karlsruhe and Stuttgart, were established, shop in- 
struction constituted a part of their educational scheme ; but 
it soon fell into disuse for want of some plan by which alone 
success could have been made possible ; and the result is that 
the influence of all the German polytechnic schools is opposed to 
such education by any method. Even the trade-school at Augs- 
burg, which ranked for many years with that at Chalons-sur- 
Marne in France, both in its methods and aims, has for some 
reason been discontinued. But apprenticeship still prevails, in 
connection with a thorough public education in schools more or 
less adapted to the needs of classes of students. Drawing and 
the elements of the sciences are taught to a large extent in 
view of their uses in industrial pursuits ; various special schools 
exist for the education of artisans, such as the excellent 



70 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

Grewerbe-jSchule of Stuttgart ; but the manual skill must be 
gained in the practice of the trade, and not in the school. 

Austria is quite as rapidly, if not more so than any other 
country, substituting systematic mechanic art instruction in 
place of the old apprenticeship system ; and, if she shall adhere 
to her present course, it is not difficult to foresee that in a few 
years she will rank among the leading industrial countries of 
Europe. 

In the foregoing I have included such schools as seemed 
to teach a special lesson in regard to the introduction of the 
manual element as part of a system of education. In addition 
to the remarks already made in connection with each, I wish 
simply to say in conclusion, that with but few pupils, so few 
that each can receive special instruction, a lack of system, or 
any system, may not be entirely fatal to some degree of success, 
any more than it would be to teach general, qualitative, and 
quantitative chemistry in the same laboratory ; but no one 
would expect to get the best results. For large classes, on the 
other hand, special shops arranged for class-teaching become 
imperative. In the next place it is pretty generally admitted 
that, if only a general mechanic art training is desired, then 
shops arranged with this end in view are better than any manu- 
facturing shops can be, whether considered on educational or 
economic grounds. Again, even in schools where manufac- 
turing shops are part of the apparatus of instruction, it is be- 
coming more apparent that a certain amount of preliminary or 
mechanic art training is necessary in order that the double aim 
of the shops, instruction and manufacturing, may both meet 
with reasonable success. While there may be special reasons, 
such as the expectations of the public, or the belief that no 
valuable teaching can be done except through manufacturing, 
why this department of instruction should demand greater 
opportunities for application in the school than other subjects 
or departments of engineering, I am persuaded that the manu- 
facturing element will gradually diminish even in schools where 
it already exists, both on the grounds of economy, and because 
a mechanic art training will in general be found to better pre- 
pare the student to choose wisely, besides opening to him a 
broader career for the future. 

We sometimes see a formal argument made to prove the obvi- 
ous proposition that an educated man makes a better mechanic 



APPENDIX. 71 

than an uneducated one ; and it is hence inferred that our pub- 
lic-school system, in many ways so admirable, and the result of 
so many years of labor and experience, is all that can be desired, 
and that any suggestion of a modification which may the better 
adapt it to the future needs of the large proportion whose educa- 
tion is finished even in the grammar schools, is in the nature of 
an attack upon the system. But this is by no means the case. 
The quality of the education may be of the very best ; and yet 
the question may be asked, whether an education based mainly 
upon scholastic studies, with so much drawing and science as 
time will allow, is the best course for the largest number of 
pupils. It is sometimes thought that the reason why so many 
graduates of high schools seek positions as clerks, book-keepers, 
and other light forms of labor, is because these positions are 
thought more genteel than pursuits involving manual labor. 
This may be true to some extent ; but I apprehend that quite 
as frequently the graduate asks himself. What can I do ? what 
has my education fitted me to do ? There is but one answer, 
and he acts accordingly as he ought; for, even if he wished to 
follow some trade or industrial pursuit needing special techni- 
cal knowledge, he may not be able to devote the time and 
money necessary even if the conditions of apprenticeship were 
favorable. Suppose now that the same student had the oppor- 
tunity during his school course, say till eighteen years of age, 
to go through a well -arranged series of mechanic art shops 
under competent instructors : what are the chances that upon 
graduation he would not enter upon that pursuit for which he 
felt himself best fitted, and which held out the best prospects, 
not only for the pressing present, but for the future ? That a 
a course of education forms habits as well as tastes, is obvious ; 
and it is unreasonable to expect that pupils educated almost 
exclusively through one set of closely allied subjects should 
show a partiality for pursuits with which these subjects have 
only the most remote, if any, connection. 

American boys and girls are not peculiar in this respect. The 
same tendency is noted and complained of abroad, when, in fact, 
it ought to be expected. What, then, is to be done ? Will any 
thing short of educating the hands and head together answer? 
It might if manufacturing establishments would take young 
men after they leave school, and educate them in the quickest 
and best way. But this we are not to expect so long as it is 



72 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

hardly more for their interest to take them into the shop and 
teach them handicraft, than into the drawing-room to teach 
them drawing. In short, the time has come when if a young 
man wishes to follow a certain course he must so far qualify 
himself as to be of use to his employer, and thus to himself; 
and, as the State cannot alBPord not to educate its children, it 
cannot afford not to so educate them as to make them the most 
serviceable to the State as producers and citizens. 

But how can this be done at the least expense, and w^ith the 
least change in our present public-school system ? Obviously 
by utilizing our present educational facilities to the fullest 
extent, and not by pulling down in the hopes of building some- 
thing better upon the ruins. It is also obvious that cities need 
this change more than the country, where almost every child is 
daily accustomed to some kind of manual labor on the farm or 
in the shop. 

In the city two courses are open, — either to build up an inde- 
pendent mechanic art school, or to attach a series of shops or 
laboratories to the high school. If the intention is to special- 
ize this education, then an independent mechanic art school 
would best accomplish the purpose, and at the same time most 
probably more or less injure the high school by drawing away 
some of its pupils. If, on the other hand, it is thought that a 
proper manual element should enter into the education of all, 
then the shops would be attached to the high school, and serve 
to strengthen it by attracting students who now do not see any 
gain in the high-school course unless they have the college or 
some other particular end in view. Admitting that two three- 
hour lessons per week for the four years would be as much 
time as would be needed for shop instruction, then a series of 
eight shops arranged to teach twenty-five in a section would 
accommodate twelve hundred pupils. It is plain that only 
the laboratory method would make it possible to teach this 
large number of pupils, and one such series of shops would be 
ample for a good-sized city. 

JOHN D. RUNKLE. 

Institute of Technology, 
Boston, Feb. 13, 1882. 




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